Reading: Shadow of Fairy Tail
by Helghy
Summary: A reading of AmusedLight's Shadow of Fairy Tail!
1. Chapter 1

**A few quick points before jumping into this story. Most notably this is obviously a reading. As if you couldn't tell by the title of the story. Now the original story is Shadow of Fairy Tail. Written by AmusedLight, this story and several others of his will be getting a reading written by me. I really gotta encourage everyone to go read the original stories they are all great, not to mention the out of the box ideas he has for them. Things you wouldn't think could be written well as a crossover for Naruto he writes as a crossover for Naruto anyway and knocks it out of the park. Seriously give them a whirl they are great!**

**Second point- I am still writing the stories that are my own, in fact I will be finishing a new chapter for one of them soon. Anyway I just wanted to clarify no I am not abandoning my other projects.**

**On with the bit you actually came here for!**

* * *

**The Nexus**

As if fading from the light itself several people suddenly appeared into a comfortably furnished room. It was similar to a theater though the stage was a single raised platform at the center of the room with a pedestal holding an ornate book. The seating circle around it in comfortable couch like chairs.

However despite how comfortable the room might be, or the odd platform in the center, the new residents were anything but comfortable or focused on the rooms center. Instead the people almost immediately were on guard with weapons drawn, splitting into two groups as if on instinct.

"Where are we? What the hell happened?" Kiba was the first to break the tense silence. Around him were multiple shinobi from Konoha, Practically his entire graduating class except the traitor and Naruto for some reason, the Hokage and Jiraiya of the Sannin were also present as well as Iruka-sensei and a handful of other shinobi he had seen around, like Sasuke's replacement on team seven, and that Captain Yamato Naruto had told him about.

"Ah, that would be a good place to begin I suppose." An elderly voice commented as a pair of individuals faded into sight in the room.

"T-The first Guildmaster!" A member of the second group rasped out. He was Makarov Dreyar an elderly man, and the third Guildmaster of FairyTail. Surrounding him were a great many of FairyTail's strongest mages, from the wild looking pink haired Natsu and his usual companions to the kind bookworm Levy and her team and multiple others including Laxus and Gildarts.

"Can someone tell me what's going on?" Lucy asked still a bit dizzy from the sudden shift in environments.

"Of course, that's what we are about to do. Now if you will all take a seat we can begin explaining things to you." Mavis said with a smile, easily calming her guild members. Hagaromo tried the same thing, however the shinobi were noticeably more hesitant, when a supposed myth in the form of the Sage of Six Paths himself was before them. Needless to say though they still complied.

"Good." The sage began. "Now that you are all calmed down I believe we should start from the beginnings. From this point where we stand, an infinite number of realities extend. Much like a spider web of interconnected possibilities. Each of your groups are from one of these possibilities, and you have been brought here by myself and my friend to witness another where your two worlds are intertwined. As for the actual mechanics of how this room works, just think of it as somewhere outside of your normal time and space and ignore the rest of it or you might actually go insane if you learn about the truth of what all our lives mean in the grand scheme of things." The sage was then interrupted by his much younger looking companion who sent him a brief glare.

Ah yes she often told him he could ramble at times.

"As my friend said we brought you all here to see, or rather read of another reality in which someone half of you know very dearly comes to be known by the other half just as closely." Mavis waved her hand at Hagoromo as if telling him to continue but to keep it short this time.

"No doubt you have noticed one of your number is missing shinobi of Konoha." Hagaromo stated simply.

The shinobi of course did a head count, Kakashi and Jiraiya immediately seeing the issue soon followed by the others.

"Naruto." Kakashi quietly murmured, briefly wondering where his student was at the moment, hopefully back in Konoha safe and sound. As it was more and more worries about the Akatsuki had begun to appear in rumors among higher ranking shinobi in Konoha, and that meant more worries about Naruto's safety.

"Where is Naruto Uzumaki?!" Tsunade all but snarled at the possibly fraud Sage before her. The Shinobi around her tensed and prepped for a fight, well most of them. Konohamaru seemed to still be stuck on the fact that the Sage of Six Paths was in front of him, believing he was either dead or having the oddest dream of his life.

Beside the Shinobi the FairyTail mages tensed as well. Sure they felt less threatened by the two before them than the Shinobi, being as the cultures the two came from were actually starkly different, it was far more common for a shinobi to blast someone with a fireball then ask questions to be on the safe side where as the mages were the opposite of that. Well except for the mage actually capable of blasting others with a fireball in their mix. Natsu was more of a blast everything and let his comrades handle the sorting kind of guy. However that being said, they all knew the feeling of being separated from their guildmembers and could understand their counterparts worry.

Luckily for all parties though Mavis calmed them all down.

"I assure you Naruto Uzumaki is perfectly fine, we however felt it imperative he join after the first chapter is read due to some of the things that occur within. It could cause issues here and to just avoid dealing with them, as for all intents and purposes they aren't real for you. This is just to learn from your alternate selves lives." Again Mavis had a calming affect on the groups, maybe it was because she appeared like an odd cross between a naive child and caring mother. Really she was a bit confusing to deal with, much like the floating, horned, geriatric patient beside her who had nodded off.

After gently rousing her friend the two allowed everyone to get truly comfortable before Hagaromo slightly shook his staff causing the book to lift up off the pedestal before settling into the arms of Lucy causing the blonde to smile awkwardly at being chosen to read first.

**Kingdom of Fiore: Magnolia**

"Well at least we are familiar with the setting." Gray pointed out, getting nods from the other mages and brief looks of interest from the shinobi.

**In a place far far away was the kingdom of Fiore, a stable neutral place with a population of over 17 million people, is a place filled with magic. Magic is commonly exchanged and play a key part in the people's lives. And there are people who earn money by using this magic, people call them mages. Mages join various guilds that are spread around the country, **

"So mages are in a way very similar to Shinobi." Kurenai said, getting nods from her fellows.

"How do you mean?" Erza asked, admittedly intrigued by the lives of these shinobi.

"Shinobi are, atleast in our time, gathered into primarily villages that assign missions and pay the shinobi, much like your guilds are. Shinobi typically perform missions for clients that use a hidden village as a medium." Kurenai elaborated.

The mages nodded and the celestial mage continued.

**one certain guild is located in the city of Magnolia, where in the past and even now holds home to many legends.**

**Its name is Fairy Tail.**

"So your guild is the top one like Konoha is the top village?" Konohamaru asked, having finally calmed down from debating his surroundings in interest in hearing a story about his boss, even if it is an alternate version of his boss.

"You better believe it, Fairy Tail is the Number One Guild in Fiore!" Natsu bellowed getting a cheer from his fellows and a few smiles from the shinobi, liking how close this group seemed with one another.

**And Right now here, a celestial mage by the name of Lucy Heartfilia who always wanted to join the infamous magic guild now was standing the middle of the everyday life of this guild.**

"Ah, thats why you chose me to read first then." Lucy said getting nothing but a wishy-washy motion from Hagoromo and Mavis's hands causing the girl to pout slightly, realizing it was a bit more random than that.

"**Bastard!" a pink haired mage with a noticeable scarf yelled as he punched his fellow guildmate into a bunch of tables, he was raised by a dragon and likes to eat fire, his name was Natsu Dragneel.**

"Kami, Sakura, you and Naruto had a kid!" Ino teased, causing Sakura to glare at her and the shinobi to chuckle, while several of the Fairy Tail mages facepalmed at the pink haired dragonslayer.

**Lucy began to panic when she saw this "Why?!"**

**Natsu angrily yells at his guildmate "That information you gave about the Salamander was fake!"**

**The guildmate stood up as he was pissed "How could I have known?! I just told you the rumours I'd heard, that's all!"**

"Are you searching for this Salamander too Natsu?" Tsunade asked, reminded slightly of Hanzo the Salamander, if only by the name.

"Yeah he's my-" Natsu began.

"I'm sure it will fully explain in the story Natsu." Mavis interrupted, getting a slight nod from the boy.

"**What did you say?!"**

"**Wanna fight?!"**

**In a matter of seconds , the guild started to do it's daily activity; fighting amongst each other like a drunken bar fight.**

"Is it really like that?" Asuma asked his cigarette hanging loosely in his mouth at the sudden fight. Most of the SHinobi owlishly blinked as well.

Most.

Konohamaru chuckled devilishly and whispered about how fun that place looked.

The present members of team 7 silently worried about the idea of Naruto being a part of this guild.

**Happy, a small flying cat tried to be the adult here "Take it easy, Natsu, that's enough-"**

**But before he could finish his sentence, Happy was hit by a person sent flying and flew against the heads of the mages around like a Ping-Pong game.**

"You poor cat!" Hinata blurted out before blushing heavily as eyes turned to her.

"Oh please don't encourage him." Carla rolled her eyes.

**Soon everybody started fighting in front of the young celestial mage "Amazing….I really made it to Fairy Tail….Would he be here?" Lucy looked around as she was trying to find the person she hoped to see in here but instead was shocked by what she saw.**

"Oh, I wonder who I'm looking for." Lucy said a bit curious to what her alternate self was thinking.

"Hmm, maybe our missing Shinobi has already made an impression on your other eh Lucy?" Cana teased lightly, causing the girl to blush and the Shinobi to hum in thought. Kakashi and Jiraiya both suddenly getting odd twinkles in their eyes before sharing a glance and giggling, until a sudden pair of fists from Tsunade corrected their behavior.

**There stood a teen about her age, wearing nothing but his underwear for no reason, having black hair, a cross necklace and a Fairy Tail stamp on his right bicep. This was Gray Fullbuster, an ice mage.**

"Why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Squawked Sakura as she and Ino tried to hide the fact they were slightly ogling the projection that appeared alongside Lucy's reading.

"It just kinda happens." Gray pouted as Erza forced his shirt back onto him.

"**You said Natsu is back?!" Gray turned around to go and approach the brawl where Natsu was part of "Let's settle our previous fight, Natsu!"**

"**Gray, your clothes…."**

**Gray looked down and yells "Ah, Crap not again!"**

"He...he wasn't kidding?" Several of the younger shinobi deadpanned.

**Lucy turned to the counter seeing the person who warned Gray was a woman also about their age, she was a beautiful woman with a slender yet admirable body with long, mid-back length brown hair. She was wearing a light blue bikini top which features a camouflage pattern, a pair of capri pants, with two bands hanging from each leg and a light belt covered in heart motifs loosely tied around the waist with high-heeled sandals. This woman was Cana Alberona.**

Jiraiya began giggling slightly before another fist from Tsunade impacted the top of his head.

"**This is why I hate most men here…." She sighed as she grabbed for a barrel in the back "They are so undignified."**

"She drinks like Lady Tsunade." Shizune shuddered at the thought.

**Lucy saw how she started downing the barrel like it was nothing "Wow…"**

"**Hey Natsu, fight me!" Gray dared him while walking towards the flame eating troublemaker.**

**Natsu was busy fighting another guildmate and turned around saying "Come back with some clothes!"**

"They remind me of Naruto and Sasuke…" Kakashi commented getting several nods.

"**Yapping in the middle of the day…." A man with wooden sandals "You aren't kids anymore."**

**Lucy turned around to see it was a big tall guy with spikey white hair wearing a blue coat. This was Elfman Strauss. He is a mage who rather likes to fight with fists.**

**He held his fist up "A man should talk with his fists!"**

"Yosh! A truly youthful mage!" Lee shouted.

"Right you are Lee! Perhaps when this is finished the three of us can have a challenge to see who's youth burns the brightest between us all!" Gai roared.

"I'm in if you think you are man enough to keep up!" Elfman hollered back.

Nearly the whole room began motioning Lucy to continue reading.

**Lucy found herself in a more awkward situation "So all he does is fight…."**

"**Get out of the way!" Natsu and Gray turned around and together punched Elfman towards the other side of the room.**

"**And he got beaten!"**

Elfman sank down a bit in his chair, while being comforted by his sister who was stifling a giggle.

**In one corner, was Loki. An mage that was top ranked as "Most desirable mage' He was currently busy with two ladies.**

Jiraiya and Kakashi shot thumbs up toward the projection, noticing he wasn't present though they didn't get to ask before a first from Tsunade and Sakura respectively reminded them of their present company.

"**Oh, so noisy," he started to give the girls who he was with more intimate time "Say, what about we-"**

**Then someone threw something against his face and he stood up joining the fight, before that he said to the two ladies "I'll join the fight, just for you."**

**The two girls drooled while replying "Good luck!"**

"So every world has a Jiraiya." Tsunade said dryly.

"Please that boy has nothing on me Tsunade-Hime." The Toad Sage said.

"You're right, at least he doesn't write porn." She growled with a glare toward the White haired man, who clutched his chest like he had been shot.

"**Well, not on my list anymore." Lucy sweat dropped while crossing his name from her book before turning around asking herself "What's with this place? There isn't a single normal person in here."**

The shinobi just nodded getting sets of giggles and pouts from the mages.

Konohamaru just considered that normal was boring.

"**Hey Mira, look what Natsu brought in?"**

"**Oh, a newcomer?"**

**Lucy turned around to see who was talking, first was a young petite girl with short, white hair and blue eyes, wearing a light-blue striped shirt, with green short-shorts and sneakers. She was holding onto a plate filled with food. This was Lisanna Strauss.**

"Wait...What? Lisanna was missing and thought to be dead at this time." Mira said. Getting nods from the others including her sister who suddenly found herself clutched into a tight side hug by the elder Strauss sister.

"Well it is a different reality, maybe in this one she never went missing?" Levy questioned. Most of the mages smiled, happy that their others didn't lose Lisanna like they had for so long.

**Next to her was her older sister, she wore sleeveless, ankle-length maroon dress with a pleated skirt. The chest is adorned by a large, pink bow, and similarly colored trimmings frame the rather ample neckline, acting as straps, and circle around the waist. Her hair is also long with two bangs flowing by her shoulders and a small pony tail on her forehead and she wears high heels that fit her dress. She like her sister also possesses beautiful blue eyes. She was also holding onto a plate, only was it filled with drinks for the patrons.**

"You know I'm starting to feel a little put out by your guild's looks." Sakura mumbled with a slight glance toward the two Strauss sisters.

"It's good to see young women who are both strong and attractive." Tsunade said getting a nod from Kurenai. Kurenai wasn't stuck up about it but she knew she had gained a bit of a reputation both for her skills and her looks in the Leaf and beyond. Needless to say there was a reason Tsunade created a technique for her body to retain the appearance of her in her prime.

"**Oh my god, you're Mirajane! The real one!"**

**Lisanna smiled at her sister "Looks like you got a fan here, sister."**

**Mirajane chuckled nervously "Oh, it's what I expect I guess."**

**Lucy saw they were thinking she was some stalker fan and began speaking "Oh, oh, please don't think I'm some kind of stalker."**

"**Oh don't worry," Mirajane calmed her down while putting a hand on her shoulder "I'm very flattered that you are a fan of mine. It's just that I should've consider the advice that was given to me with some of the photoshoots, especially the ones that are 'too revealing.'" She blushed slightly as she thought about that.**

"Nice." Several of the men whispered getting a few glares, while Mirajane blushed slightly and chuckled awkwardly.

**Lisanna pulled back Mirajane slightly so she wouldn't be hit by Elfman who got sent flying before giving a smirk remark "Well, the results didn't seem to bother you much after you showed those pictures to him…."**

"Him, better not be who I think it is." Sakura said with a scowl. This got her looks from her friends, even Ino who normally wouldn't mind Naruto getting a few 'reminders' from Sakura. The pinkette really hit him a bit too much. This would hardly be his fault in this case.

**Mirajane blush turned into a fume as she gave a small glare to her sister who laughed at her reaction "Really Lisanna, sometimes you are just mean."**

**Lisanna laughed slightly before being joined by Mirajane who couldn't stay angry longer and also was then joined by Lucy who couldn't help but join in.**

**Lisanna stopped and asked curiously Lucy "So lucy, why do you want to join Fairy Tail?"**

"Who wouldn't!" Joked the blonde getting grins from the other mages.

**Lucy found herself quite taken back by that question as she looked down nervously "Well I always heard such fascinating stories about the legendary wizards, the prestige but also to be honest I also had doubts before joining."**

"**Hmmm?" This got both sisters staring at each other before turning back "What changed you mind?"**

**Lucy started to have a slight tint on her cheek "Well, three years ago when I was walking back home, I was attacked by some thugs who were threatening to rob me and when they cornered me, a guy my age beat them all down with his magic, I asked him who he was and simply said his name was 'The Shadow of Fairy Tail.'"**

"Oh so it seems this Naruto has made a name for himself then." Makarov stated.

"Either that or he is just making up stupid nicknames. I mean our Naruto wears bright orange and is loud as can be." Kiba laughed.

"Still beat you." Shino said dully causing Kiba to whirl around on him with a betrayed look.

"**Wait, you met Na-" Natsu stopped when he heard that and before he could ask he was punched in the face by Gray.**

"So Naruto has earned a title. But to be the shadow of Fairy Tail, sounds a little ominous doesn't it?" Erza commented getting a few nods, while the Shinobi shifted uncomfortably. This Naruto was sounding a little different than the one they knew and loved and they weren't sure how they felt about that.

**Lisanna and Mirajane turned towards each other and giggled "That's him alright."**

"**You know him?" Lucy asked.**

"**Know him? He's preactically family, he's on a mission right now but I suppose he should come back today. Even though he finished his mission three days ago." Lisanna explained.**

Tsunade snagged Kakashi by the throat with a darkly glaring Tsunade and Sakura hanging over her shoulders, causing the scarecrow to shudder.

"You had better not have corrupted him Hatake or there will be hell to pay. One of you is enough!" Tsunade hissed at him getting the masked Jonin to nod a little more frantically than his laid back persona usually permitted.

"**Why take three days after a mission?" Lucy asked with curiosity.**

**Mirajane gave and eyebrow "Because he has a habit of coming late...and coming up with an excuse like 'A black cat passed by and I needed to go the other way around.'**

"Oh he's dead." Asuma commented. Getting a somber nod from his team and Kurenai and her team.

"May his soul find peace in the afterlife." Jiraiya said.

Meanwhile the Mages watched in amusement as Kakashi suddenly found himself surrounded by three extremely dangerous and angry kunoichi. That is until he used the substitution Jutsu with Konohamaru, who promptly wheezed once before passing out from the Killing Intent of the three women toward the man that tainted their dopey brother figure.

**Lucy sweat dropped "Who would use an excuse like that?"**

"Oh yes Who?" Sakura asked with an annoyed tone.

"**Aachoo!" a person wearing a long brown sneezed "okay, either I'm getting sick or someone is talking about me...wait, I never get sick." The person who was wearing a cloak over him spoke to himself as looked over to what stood in front of him.**

**The Fairy Tail guild hall.**

"**Ah, home sweet home. I wonder if-"**

"**That's ENOUGH!" a loud demanding voice said as the building vibrated a little bit.**

"**Yep, that's gramps. I wonder who caused havoc first." The person said as he walked through that door.**

"He seems rather happy." Sai said with an even tone. Commenting for the first time. This got odd shifting again from the Shinobi. Clearly uncomfortable with one of their own being a part of a different group than Konoha.

"**Nice to meet you." Makarov greeted the awestricken Lucy.**

"**Is HE your master?!" Lucy pointed at the rather short but powerful guild leader, Makarov Dreyar, the 3rd guild leader of the legendary Fairy Tail guild. He was just in a moment a giant black figure that stopped everybody inside the guild from fighting and stamped on Natsu like it was nothing.**

"That's sort of like the Akimichi Multi Size Technique." Choji said in slight awe.

**Mirajane chuckled at the remark "Yes, he is Fairy Tail's master Makarov."**

**Makarov turned around and jumped towards the second floor, not without landing horrible on his back before recovering he spoke to the guild "You've gone and done it again, you brats!"**

**All of the guild members looked down embarrassed at what he meant, it was no secret that even though Fairy Tail was one of the strongest, they were also one the most hell raisers around the kingdom, like how Natsu just a few days destroyed a whole dock? That was nothing compared to the long sheets master Makarov was holding onto. And it was a whole lot of it.**

Tsunade shivered at the thought of so much paperwork.

**Makarov brought forwards the paperwork to show it "Just take a look at how much paperwork the Magic Council send me this time, this is the biggest pile of complaints yet!"**

Now she began to look a little green.

**The hooded person walked through the door and saw everybody was paying attention to master Makarov explanation with the complaints he received.**

**The old man looked ticked off "Have you lost your minds?! All you kids are good for is getting the higher-ups mad at me!"**

**All of the guild mates started to look down in shame.**

"Do that to me and it's D-ranks for life." Tsunade said in a terrifyingly even voice, getting nods from her shinobi.

Meanwhile a thoughtful look on Makarov's face suddenly had the mages on edge as well.

"**However, " Makarov irritation faded away as he burned the papers in his hands into a bowl of fire "I say to heck with the Magic council. " He threw the fire bowl up front for Natsu to eat it up like he always do.**

"**Now listen up, any power that surpasses reason still comes from reason, right. Magic isn't some kind of miraculous power, it is a talent that only works when the flow of energy inside of us and flow of energy in the natural world are in perfect match."**

**The hooded person smiled at the speech.**

"**To perform magic, one must have a strong mind and ability to focus. It should take over you being and come pouring out of your soul, if all we do is worry about following rules then our magic will never progress. Don't let those blowhards one the council scare you, follow the path you believe in; because that is what makes the Fairy Tail guild number 1!"**

**The room was soon filled with cheering as everybody believed in the words of master Makarov, he saw every member in his guild as his children, and of course when children learn, it happens it could cause trouble.**

Tsunade smiled at the image before her, it was much the same image her sensei had for Konoha. One that she wanted to continue, and one she hoped Naruto, and maybe even Kakashi would continue after her.

**The hooded person chuckled as he spoke out "Still giving good speeches, huh Master?"**

**Everybody turned around to see where it came from. They saw it was a person wearing a hoodie an saw he was smirking underneath the hood.**

**Lucy was the first to ask Mirajane "uhm, who's he?"**

**The person removed his hoodie, revealing it to be a person wearing a black mask that covers his muscular chin and recognizable whisker marks and had spiky blonde hair that wasn't too short or too long wearing a bandana tied up around his forehead and covered his left eye.**

"You made him your clone Hatake!" Tsunade roared reaching for the fleeing Jonin as he body flickered a few seats away.

**The person eye smiled as he waved "oi everybody, missed me?!"**

**For some reason, Lucy couldn't help but blush 'Oh my, he's-'**

"Wait what?" Sakura and Ino asked. As they asw the brief blushes from several other girls at seeing Naruto.

"**Naruto is back!" Someone exclaimed as the whole guild went crazy out of happiness.**

**Mirajane approached him with a soft smile "Glade to see you're back, Naruto."**

"**I'm also glad to be back, Mira-Chan." naruto said in friendly terms to the mage as it obviously made her blush slightly.**

"Naruto seems really popular there." Neji mused to his fellows.

"Well yeah he seems pretty nice, looks like he fits right in." Gray replied.

"What is he not popular in your home or something?" Cana asked. The mages gained questioning looks when the shinobi looked away or shifted uncomfortably.

**Makarov walked towards him "Naruto my boy, how was you request. Any troubles?"**

"**Nah master, it all went good." Naruto pulled out a bag that looked like it was ready to shred "I've got enough Jewels to pay my rent for almost six months."**

"Wow." Lucy commented. The rest of the guild all looked a little jealous as well.

"**And are you planning to do nothing for six months?!" Makarov asked**

"**Of course not, "Naruto raised the bag "All drinks and food are today?"**

"That sounds like Naruto, always first to share with his friends and comrades." Iruka chuckled.

"Unless it's Ramen." Kakashi commented. Getting grave nods from all those unlucky enough to have been roped into paying for Naruto's Ramen before. Sadly not even the other teams Sensei's had escaped his ravenous desire for the noodles and broth.

**10 minutes later**

**Naruto was sitting at the bar while eating a bowl of ramen, he slurped the liquid before putting it down out of satisfaction "Ahhh, you and your sister's ramen are one of the best I've ever eaten, Lisanna. Mind giving me some water?"**

"Oh that's a hard compliment to get from him, it must really be something!" Iruka said getting blushes from Lisanna and Mirajane.

**Lisanna smiled while taking the bowl and walked to the back "Sure, one water coming up!"**

**Makarov who was sitting on the counter asked the former-shinobi "And my boy, have you seen Erza on your way?"**

"**Actually I did, she said she was looking for the beast she was hunting for. I offered her my services but declined kindly, saying she wants to handle this alone." Naruto answered as he drank his water that Lisanna brought.**

**Makarov smirked "Of course she does, you really are the big brother here, aren't you?"**

"Wow that doesn't sound like Naruto." Sakura commented.

"Yes it does." Both Konohamaru and Hinata said with slight frowns on their faces before Hinata blushed red at her outburst, small as it was, and Konohamaru shot a glare at Sakura for talking bad about his boss.

"Actually Naruto can be very mature when the situation calls for it." Jiraiya commented getting a solemn nod from Kakashi, Tsunade, and surprisingly Shikamaru and Neji.

**Naruto scratched his head "Well, I don't want to go that far." they both laughed.**

"My so humble." Mira giggled.

"Too bad he isn't in our FairyTail, maybe he could help reel some of our boys back when they get out of hand." Cana said with a scoff. She got more than a few betrayed looks in response.

"**Is my dad back yet?"**

**Naruto turned around to see Romeo standing there, Romeo was macao's son. He was a kid that was about twelve he believed.**

**Makarov sighed as he had wanted to say something but naruto just waved him not to say anything.**

"Wow Naruto must be really respected there." Iruka said, getting a few nods while the shinobi blinked at the slightly different Naruto.

**Naruto turned to the young Romeo and asks gently "Why? What is it with your father, young Romeo?"**

"Gah! Is this even Naruto?" Kiba asked before a light bop to the back of his head from Kurenai quieted him.

**Romeo quietly nervously answered "my dad said he was going on a request on Mt. Hakobe, he said it would take 3 days but it has been a week." Romeo became scares "I think something-"**

"Oh that poor boy." Shizune commented looking saddened. Again many shinobi nodded along, most of them understood perfectly well how tough going without a father could be. Even if they themselves had a father, they at least knew a great many that either had one parent dead or both.

'**Hey, hey. I know your father, he's a strong mage alright? He can handle it." Naruto tried to assure the boy that his father was alright.**

**Romeo just looked down as he was about to cry but he then felt a hand grab his head and saw it was Naruto who held a smile.**

"**But...If you are really worried about him, I don't think it's such a bad idea to let someone check him out." Naruto turns his head to the person who would do the job "Ain't that a good idea Natsu?"**

"Wow, he's so mature there." Sakura said.

"Sakura, you do realize Naruto is the main reason most of our missions were successes right? Naruto bonds with people and he never lets them go. He'll do anything for his precious people." Kakashi said in a sombre tone.

The mages were now even more interested in this Naruto, he sounded exactly like Fairy material to them.

**Natsu who was listening to the whole conversation nodded in seriously "Yes."**

"**The you mind going out looking for Macao?"**

"**Of course I don't mind!" Natsu said as he turned to his companion "Come on, Happy, to Mt. Hakobe."**

"**Alright!" Happy saluted as they both walked out of the building, also with them they dragged the newcomer for no apparent reason.**

"Well that was easy." Choji laughed.

"And some people still question if he could one day become Hokage." Konohamaru scoffed, getting a ruffle of his hair from Iruka who agreed wholeheartedly.

**Romeo on the other hand began to worry more as he saw Natsu leave "But-but-"**

"**Hey listen," Robeo turned back to Naruto, who gave him a welcoming and warm giving smile.**

"**Natsu isn't somebody who stays on the sidelines while somebody is in trouble, so just put some trust in him, alright? He is a big brother figure to you, isn't he?"**

**Romeo started to act up and nod "Yes."**

"**Then have trust in him, okay?"**

**Romeo smiled "Okay."**

"That's Naruto alright." Kakashi said quietly to himself as he smiled proudly under his mask.

"**Now go back to your mom, she must be worried about you, isn't she?"**

**Romeo remembered what time it was "Oh no, I've got to go!" Romeo ran towards the exit but before he waved to Naruto "See you tomorrow, Naruto!"**

**Naruto smile as he waved back "Till tomorrow, Romeo!"**

"He is really good with children." Cana said suggestively getting more than a few blushes among both shinobi and mage.

**The rest of the guild smiled at the carrying character of Naruto, always coming up with the right words for someone who was in need. Many liked that about him.**

**Naruto turned to Makarov "Hey Gramps, mind if I take a nap in one of the guestrooms, I'm quite tired to be honestly."**

**Makarov smiled "Sure naruto, you know the way."**

"**Thanks," naruto stood up as he waved the others "See you guys later."**

"**Sleep well, Naruto." Everybody else said as he went upstairs.**

"I must say Guildmaster Makarov, both in that world and your own you have done an excellent job of making the guild like what it's supposed to be." Mavis praised getting a happy smile from Makarov and proud grins from his 'children'.

"A change of scene I think." Lucy said.

**Naruto now had his cloak off and was now in his pajamas which consisted of just only his shirt and underpants, but as he was lying down he wasn't sleeping, instead he was staring at the ceiling while remembering something.**

"If only he had no shirt as well." Cana laughed, causing a round of gaping mouths and furious blushes as some thought of it.

**He grabbed his chest "It's been 3 years…"**

"This sounds ominous." Jiariya said darkly.

_**3 years before the events**_

"Oh a flashback! Now we can see what led up to him joining Fairy Tail!" Wendy said. Surprising some of her friends who had all but forgotten the unusually quiet girl had been.

_**Night fell over Konoha or also known as the Village Hidden in the Leaf, with everybody going to sleep. It was a day of panic and unanswered questions as a series of events unfolded within the last few months that occurred in the strongest shinobi village of the whole continent.**_

"Oh that's not a good start." Tenten grimaced.

_**With first being the failed Oto/Suna invasion of Konoha during the finals of the Chunin Exams, resulting in the death of countless shinobi's on both sides and that of the 3rd Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. The crisis of finding a new Hokage, which ended up with Lady Tsunade one of the Legendary Sannin and the defection of Sasuke Uchiha as he tried to defect to Otogakure with the help of the Sound four.**_

Several of the shinobi clenched their jaws or their fists at the memory there. None more than the members of the Sasuke Retrieval team. This was not missed by the Mages who looked at their new acquaintances in mild worry.

_**That failed thanks to the efforts of a group of Leaf ninja that was led by the Chunin Shikamaru Nara who just recently gained this promotion despite of his young age.**_

Shikamaru ground his teeth faintly until Asuma placed a hand on his shoulder calming the younger Shinobi down.

_**With their full strength the Sound Four were defeated by Shikamaru, Chouji, Neji, Kiba, the backup of Suna and Lee they.**_

_**But the one who completed the mission was teh blonde Naruto Uzumaki, he fought Sasuke at the Valley of the End and dragged his unconscious body back to the village. **_

"Wait, hold on Naruto brought Sasuke back in that world!" Sakura shouted.

"We heard." Neji snarked at her getting her to blush for her sudden shout.

"Did he not succeed in your own world?" Lisanna asked. Getting a few headshakes from the shinobi mages looked down slightly feeling sympathy for their counterparts from the hidden leaf.

_**A few weeks went by as for now after the events and the deeds of Naruto, all the shinobi who encountered him and mistrusted started to think differently about him. But the civilians and one over-emotional pink haired shinobi downright started to bash him even more, like it was always the case.**_

A few glares got shot to Sakura who looked a bit stunned. She began to mumble an excuse but was ignored over continuing the story.

_**But now, those thoughts were going to be changed once again.**_

"No. He wouldn't." Kakashi murmured under his breath.

The Shinobi were wide eyed fearing the worst.

_**BOOM!**_

_**The Hokage building exploded as the roof was covered in flames several shadows jumped away from rooftop to rooftop after the explosion occurred. **_

"Did this happen in your world were you attacked again?" Erza asked the Shinobi. Head shakes came from the shinobi which didn't make her feel better for some reason, it made her dread it a bit more.

_**One of those shadows landed on the rooftop of his own house, it was Naruto wearing not his orange jumpsuit but instead a standard blue shirt and pants with the whirlpool sign on the shoulder and wearing sandals.**_

"He wouldn't something else is going on here!" Konohamaru shouted. His boss would never betray the leaf. Would he?

_**Naruto held on his left eye that was bleeding as he took some deep breaths, looking at the damage he had done to the building. Also he had his mouth covered in fresh bandages as he obtained and injury in the event.**_

"He's in bad shape." Tsunade commented. The image before them caused some of the shinobi and mages to be a little upset at the injuries the boy was sporting.

"Just a child." Makarov all but whispered. Why did such vile things happen to children no matter the world, he pondered sadly.

"_**I'm sorry Granny...Old man...Kakashi….Ero-Sennin...Sasuke-teme….everyone, I did what I had to do. It's for the safety of the village." naruto said as he clutched his free hand as he knew there was no turning back now, his home, his dream. It's all over now.**_

"I knew he wasn't a traitor!" Konohamaru hollered, getting a few sad smiles.

"So he is making himself out to be a traitor to protect your village?" Levy asked.

"It's more than that, he is making himself a missing-nin, it's practically a death sentence. He might as well be committing suicide." Jiraiya said with obvious frustration and pain in his voice.

"But why? That's not fair, it sounds like he has been a hero!" Natsu yelled.

"Sometimes in our world those that are heroes are remembered as villains." Kakashi said.

That thought made Fairy Tail scowl, while the younger shinobi lowered their heads. A shared thought about whether their Naruto could do something similar.

_**He took out his headband and puts it on the ground so he could pick out his kunai, he took a moment to understand what he was doing.**_

_**He carved a big scratch through the leaf symbol as a clone of his landed next to him**_

"There's no going back now. He's a missing-nin." Jiraiya said sourly.

"_**Shit. That's a big explosion." Ther person turned to Naruto "Hey boss, you coming or what?"**_

"His shadow clones still weird me out with having diverging personalities like that. Makes me wonder if they have ever mutinied against him." Iruka said getting a halfhearted chuckles from the others.

_**Naruto had the headband now on his head and answered "I'm ready. Let's go." they both jumped away as they jumped through the rooftops, going straight for one of the gates.**_

"_**You know you just marked yourself as a rogue ninja, right?" the clone said as they were coming closer to the gate.**_

"I'm sure he is very aware of that." Kakashi grunted. He was really not liking what was going on.

_**Naruto said nothing as they now were close to the gate, they just had to run through it and they had an open window just for a moment.**_

_**Then two spotting lights went on and were set on the two shinobi, forcing them to stop.**_

"_**Naruto Uzumaki, freeze!"**_

"Yeah, it was bound to happen. I honestly don't know how he escapes but I have to say it must have been brilliant, because he doesn't just have to get past all the shinobi in the village, he has to get out of the forest too, and that is a Leaf Ninja's playground. He'll be hunted down." Jiraiya said.

It was the mages' turn to shuffle uncomfortably at that thought. Despite their similarities, these Shinobi were still very different than they were.

_**Naruto gritted as he knew that voice he made his trade mark hand sign.**_

"_**Shadow clone jutsu!" dozens of Naruto's appeared as he ordered "Split up!"**_

"At least his go to technique increases his chances." Kakashi said, though only Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune were close enough to him to hear it.

"_**Right!" they all responded as they all went different directions as several leaf shinobi started pursuing them. One of them was his teacher who was standing on a rooftop overseeing how one of his students was fleeing.**_

Kakashi frowned at that though it was hidden behind his mask.

_**Naruto was sprinting through the streets as he jumped through a few alleyways as he disappeared into a corner that was pitch black.**_

_**Three leaf ninja, two chunin and one jounin landed in front of the corner as they looked around. **_

"_**Where is he? Where's the demon brat!?" the jounin demanded.**_

"Demon Brat?" Makarov asked.

"I'm sure the book will explain in due time." Mavis said much to the relief of the shinobi, before they realized that it would eventually be revealed.

"_**We must've lost his tracks" The Chunin said as he was catching his breath "Little bastard is fast, I give him that."**_

_**The other chunin gritted his teeth "I knew that demon brat couldn't be trusted, the 3rd Hokage was a fool to let him become a ninja and now look; he attempted to kill the whole council!"**_

"He wouldn't do that without a reason." Shikamaru grunted while his hands went into his usual thinking pose. His mind was working overtime to figure out exactly what happened, and each piece he was given so far had just added more questions.

_**He pointed at the hokage building, which was now fully on fire as shinobi with water style jutsu were trying to put the fire down.**_

"So remember when Naruto used to lead the ANBU around on chases in the village after pulling a prank. I think I just realized how dangerous he actually could be if you replaced his pranks with attacks." Iruka commented slowly.

The thought sent shivers down the spine of every shinobi in the room. That truly was a frightening thought. If applied in the right way, Naruto's pranks could have crippled the leaf.

"_**It doesn't matter right now, or mission now is to kill that brat. He's obviously a traitor as he even broke out one of Orochimaru's ninja's. Now let's split up!" The Jounin ordered as he left the two chunin.**_

"What is he thinking?!" Sakura hollered.

"They aren't even going to try and get his side of the story, just immediately try to kill him?" Happy asked.

"N-Naruto is not very well liked by some villagers and shinobi. Well most villager and some shinobi. It's not his fault they are just...superstitious." Shizune partially explained.

"That doesn't make it right." Natsu snarled.

"_**Right!" They both also jumped away. Out of the dark corner, Naruto walked out the alley as he watched the ninja going at different directions.**_

"_**Ah….Ah...Okay, I lost them for now." Naruto flinched at the stinging pain in his eye "Argh, that hurts like hell."**_

"So I guess it wasn't just a style choice with the bandana. He really lost his eye." Tsunade commented with a bit of a dead voice.

"_**You get used to it, I know."**_

"You make jokes now of all times?" Kurenai asked while shooting her colleague a glare.

_**Naruto went stiff when he heard that, he did that and saw it was his sensei, kakashi Hatake and he was not alone, alongside with him were Asuma and Kurenai, senseis of team 8 and 10.**_

"Oh wow, all three, this is bound to be interesting. Naruto would have a very difficult time slipping past you three. Well at least back then." Jiraiya commented with a bit of a boast towards his teaching skills, trying to lighten the tense mood slightly. It didn't work at all.

_**Naruto cursed to himself "Damn it…." he really didn't want to come across them, they were one of the very few who didn't hate him. He expected from the cyclops to either cuss him or outright just kill but instead he said.**_

"Does he really think so little of me?" Kakashi practically whispered, disheartened by the fact Naruto would think he wouldn't try to let him explain himself first.

"_**Naruto, Why?" Kakashi had this concerned look in his eye as he held his hands forward "Why did you do this, do you know the extend to what you have done?"**_

"I have no doubt that he does." Shikamaru said calmly getting a few looks from those sitting around him.

_**Naruto simply nodded "Yes. Yes I know what I have done."**_

"_**Then why?!" Kakashi sounding more demanding "You know this can cost you your-"**_

"_**Like I said Kakashi-Sensei, I know what I did. With what I have committed I will be branded and hunted down as a rogue ninja, I will be viewed again by many of the villagers as a monster."**_

"They viewed him as a monster?" Mira asked, remembering her own life before coming to fairy tail.

"_To do that willingly, to give up his life and his dreams to protect his home. No wonder he is so welcome in Fairy Tail." _Makarov thought.

_**Asume bit his cigarette "Then why do it?"**_

"_**Ask Lady Tsunade." This caught the senseis off guard, they never heard naruto so formal speaking like that.**_

"Tsunade!" Jiraiya growled snapping to glare at the woman. It was an odd flip of their usual relationship. She actually looked frightened, but perhaps not of Jiraiya but more what she had done. Just what was her other thinking?

The younger shinobi also shot looks at her, thought they were less glares and more glances of fear, something she suddenly loathed more than anything else.

_**Naruto continued "Because I knew one thing, the actions I took extended the the survival of the Hidden Leaf Village, I'm not letting those bastards destroy what the old man has been fighting for."**_

"He's a martyr." Shikamaru sighed out, realizing at least most of what had happened.

_**Kakashi saw what Naruto meant by , it seems like he held a very strong conviction to the Third Hokage. He knew that Naruto had a very close relation to Hiruzen Sarutobi, he even remembered how he brought young Naruto along to some parts of the village to enjoy but he never expected naruto to go this far.**_

_**Was he just like Itachi? WIlling to be branded a criminal for the love of the village?**_

"Wait what?" Nearly every shinobi questioned shooting a look at Kakashi who was suddenly sweating under the looks from his fellow Jonin.

"_**If they succeeded their plan," Naruto gritted as he remembered it he clutched his fist "I could not let them do that!"**_

_**Several shinobi came around the corner and spotted them "There's Kakashi, he's trapped the demon brat!"**_

"Pfft, yes he looks very trapped." Kiba scoffed. That earned him a slight pop on the head this time from Shino.

"Not the time for sarcasm." Shino calmly said. His only reply was a grumbling response that may have included bits about stupid bug boys.

"_**Naruto, please turn yourself in. You will only make things worse." Kurenai tried to convince to convince the boy who she knew was the crush her student had.**_

Hinata blushed cherry red at that little snippet, while slight chuckles and giggles could be heard in the room. The poor girl tried desperately to sink into her coat.

"_**I'm sorry," Naruto held a hand sign "But what's done it's done."**_

"_**Oh," Naruto said one last thing "Tell the members of the Shinobi council, Hinata's Kiba's, Shikamaru's parents and the others I'm sorry, didn't mean to get them involved…"**_

The children of the Shinobi councilors, looked at the image of their friend in sadness. Naruto seemed to be too loyal for his own good. A few began to really think about interacting with him more.

_**He smoke exploded around him as two chunin tried to stab him from above.**_

_**They looked around "Where did he go?!"**_

"_**He can't be that far."**_

"_**A shadow clone." Kakashi murmured.**_

"Of course." Kakashi sighed. At least he was safe.

_**Then a man in robes came down, he was a member of the ANBU "You got the kid?"**_

"_**No," Kakashi answered "He just slipped away, why? What's the problem?"**_

_**The ANBU agent turned to Kakashi "Because we lost track of him, our trackers are already scanning the area around the village."**_

"He is surprisingly good at stealth when he wishes to be." Neji commented.

_**The another ANBU ninja joined and kneeling "Kakashi, we've spotted your student fleeing towards the east."**_

"Now they will corner him. I don't see how he can escape. He isn't like Itachi." Jiariya said. As proud of his student he was, Naruto at least the Naruto at that time had little chance to truly escaping Konoha.

_**Outside the Village**_

_**Naruto hide behind a tree, he took some deep breaths as he took a look seeing if he was followed, luckily he wasn't and he wanted that for now. He was too exhausted to fight and to tired right now to run.**_

_**Then two kunai's flew out of the bushes and hit Naruto.**_

The gathered readers winced, a few beginning to tear up at the struggle of the blonde.

"_**Argh!" Naruto shrieked in pain as he grabbed a hold on the one that close to his shoulder. He turned to where it came from and saw that two more kunai's were flying towards him.**_

_**He pulled out the kunai in his shoulder and used it to block the two others, he failed to see the three shuriken that were thrown from the tree behind him.**_

"Cornered and surrounded. They'll pick him apart he won't even get a chance to really fight back." Asuma said grimly.

_**All three shuriken plunged into Naruto's back as the pain forces him to lean backwards and on his knee.**_

Again the readers winced. Naruto's friends and even those that hadn't even truly met him yet did not want to read of his suffering.

"_**Urgh….Urgh...damn it." Naruto gasped for air as he took a look around and saw men in black robes but with plain white masks coming fro the bushes.**_

"ROOT, that bastard Danzo is probably behind the whole thing!" Tsunade shouted.

Sai's usual fake smile had become a very, very mild frown.

"_**We've got the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki. We can bring him to Lord Danzo."**_

"When we get home Danzo Shimura dies." Tsunade said darkly. The Mages seemed a little put off as the Shinobi one by one agreed with simple nods.

"_**We're not finished, knock him out." One of them ordered.**_

"_**Hai!" one of the robed men jumped towards him as he was ready to give the final blow.**_

"_**Bastards…" Naruto growled as he reached for the other kunai, which was very close to his heart.**_

Hinata had tears running down her face as did a few of the Fairy Tail guild members. Kurenai did her best to comfort the girl, but was also upset with what she was seeing. From the interactions she had with Naruto he had always been a sweet, if a bit dim, boy and was practically the antithesis to what the villagers treated him as. To see this could have been the end result for him, dampened her love for the village ever so slightly.

_**The robed man cam closer.**_

"_**YAAAAAAH!"**_

"_**YAAAH!"**_

_**Kakashi stopped when he heard that, his eyes widened "Naruto!" he sprinted faster.**_

"Ah, perhaps my youthful rival rescues his student from the Root's clutches?" Gai said though he was largely ignored.

_**Naruto was breathing hard as he was hoolding onto a bloodied kunai as his open wounds were bleeding out lots of blood but in front of him laid something that rather pissed off the surrounding ninja.**_

_**The one robed ninja laid there, dead. With a slash going through his mask, hitting the face. He laid there motionless.**_

The mages were a bit put off, none of them really in favor of killing, however Naruto was trying to survive, so it was hard to blame him.

"Good job kid, keep fighting on." Jiraiya quietly cheered.

"_**That brat is too dangerous, go for his arms."**_

"_**Hai!"**_

"Efficient bastards aren't they." Gray commented.

_**Naruto looked around and saw that from all direction a dozen Kunais came for him**_

_**He didn't react fast enough as they all hit their targets.**_

_**PLUNG!**_

_**PLUNG!**_

_**PLUNG!**_

The sounds made the gathered group twitch as they seemed to play out in the room. It was a sickening sound.

_**Naruto's arms were now no use as all his muscles were hit by the Kunais, some even hit his back as he now was forced to stand on his knees while blood was coming out of his mouth.**_

"This looks like a sick execution." Erza muttered.

"I don't want to watch this anymore." Wendy whimpered to Carla who frowned sadly down at the young dragonslayer.

"_**Guess...this is it…." naruto said as he saw the masked ninja's approach him, his vision was to blurry to see them come closer as he started to close his eyes, ready to pass onto the next world.**_

"He-He's accepting death?" Mira said shakily, not liking the seemingly friendly boy being so low.

"_**What's that?...ahh!"**_

"_**YAAAH!" lud punching and screaming was heard ad Naruto forced himself open**_

"About time you got there!" Sakura and Tsunade shouted at Kakashi.

"Why are you late for everything?" Tsunade asked with a weary moan.

Kakashi simply turned his head slightly to turn away from them.

_**Then a bright light forced Naruto to shield his eyes for a moment before he could look what it was and when he saw it was. He was astonished.**_

_**In front of him was a small girl with yellow blonde hair and large green eyes with no pupils, she was wearing a frilly, pink layered robe with a red ribbon tied in a bow around her neck. She was surrounded by golden lights.**_

"It wasn't even you." Tsunade said angrily.

"Thank Mavis, for saving him." Hinata said to the girl getting a warm smile in return.

_**She smiled at him as she walked with her shoeless feet towards the young shinobi and reached out for him while saying "You have a heart of gold, I've seen what you did and I want to give you a chance...a second chance of life...a second chance to have a family….. A second chance to have….a family. In a country far away from here." She extended her hand "what do you say?"**_

"Does, Naruto actually even want to be Hokage to be leader or just because Sensei told him the village was the Hokage's family?" Jiraiya asked.

Both Tsunade and Kakashi looked worried by that fact. That was something that could easily be warped into manipulating him.

"_**Naruto!" He turned around, that has to be Kakashi-Sensei.**_

"Always late." Sakura groaned causing Kakashi to slump.

_**He turned back "What is this….land?"**_

_**She smiled "Fiore."**_

The mages all smiled sadly, they atleast would gain a new family member from this mess.

_**Naruto then asked one final question "What….is your name?"**_

_**The kind smile she gave made Naruto calm "Mavis Vermillion, first guild master of Fairy Tail."**_

"Is he going to leave without saying anything to us?" Kiba asked a little disappointed in that.

"Whether he has to, or not doesn't matter, we didn't deserve a goodbye, we aren't even shown here. We haven't done anything to help him, it's always the otherway around, some friends we are." Ino said getting a few looks of surprise for what she said, especially from her sensei.

"_**Naruto!"**_

_**Naruto turned around again, seeing movement in the trees before turning back to Mavis "W-When can we go."**_

_**She reached for his hand and smiled "Right now."**_

"I guess he didn't want to see you." Sakura said blandly.

"More like Kakashi was too late to see him off." Tsunade snipped.

_**She giggled as the light began to shine so much, that the whole area god absolved into it.**_

"Well, at least it explains how he got to Fiore." Lucy offered comfortingly to the still distraught Shinobi.

_**End Flashback**_

**Naruto remembered how he woke up, finding himself in a hospital in a country he didn't know, soon enough the doctors explained they found him in the streets with dozens of stab wounds and thought he was a dead man.**

Frowns and scowls marred the faces of both the shinobi and the mages. Naruto had been still pretty young when that had occurred.

**He reached for his bag and went with his hand through it, pulling out his old headband and a pair of pictures, one of that was of his former class and the other was that of team 7 with Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei?**

"Even after all that he is still thinking about you all. He must be a really loyal guy." Lisanna said.

"He's a real man is what he is." Elfman added.

**CRASH!**

"Great more trouble for him. How much do you want to bet it's a shinobi? Tsunade-hime?" Jiraiya asked. He might be playing a bit on her addiction to be honest.

"You're o-" Tsunade was cut off.

"Lady Tsunade, no gambling on Naruto's life! You agreed!" Shizune cried out getting a frown from the Hokage.

**Naruto stood up quickly, that sound came from outside, he looked through the window and saw someone unfortunately dropped a vase from their balcony. But even that, he knew he had to keep his guard, after all he is by definition a missing nin by now.**

**Naruto went over to his window and looked over the rooftops of Magnolia before closing the curtains.**

"Damn I had hoped he would spot someone." Jiraiya grumbled.

**When he closed the curtains, figures skipped the shadows away from the building.**

"Of course. He's a magnet for bad luck and trouble. Now the question is, is that Shinobi?" Sakura said.

"Alright, that's the first chapter." Lucy handed the book back to the two hosts.

"Excellent!" Mavis said with a broad smile. She then snapped and there was a table covered in treats and drinks for the readers. "Enjoy yourselves while we wait for Hagaromo to gather up Naruto and bring him in now that we have passed by the parts that had worried us about your reactions." As she spoke Hagoromo nodded before disappearing, presumably to pick up Naruto.


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright sorry for the long wait everyone, my posting speed is sub-par I realize that but hopefully you still enjoy my work. This is the next installment of Reading Shadow of Fairy Tail, written by none other than AmusedLight, send him your love and read his stories they are all fantastic. Adding on to that other fans of his work may have seen the recent message he has posted, for those of you of the inclination please send your prayers and well wishes his way. Loss of a loved one is never a warm experience, but support from his fans would likely make it a bit easier.**

**Back on topic now, I will be focusing more on my reading for Shadow of Fairy Tail until it is caught up to chapter eight, after that I will likely shift focus onto my own stories before returning to this once again.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

After taking a brief moment to stretch and use the restroom, the group returned to their seats and now Tsunade was given the book to read. While initially hesitant, partially because Hagaromo had not yet returned, Tsunade was surprised when the Sage reappeared with a familiar shinobi alongside him. Sakura gasped out the boy's name before he sat down, well away from the other shinobi something that disheartened Sakura it seemed.

Tsunade was tempted to question Hagoromo about the boy being there but decided against choosing instead to simply begin reading the next chapter.

**It's been a couple of days since Naruto returned from his quest and a new mage named Lucy joined Fairy Tail. But in overall it was a normal day in Magnolia's best-known guild hall as everyone began to have a meal or a drink, and having fun. Sometimes there was even a laugh thrown in when Wakaba, one of the members of the guild tried (jokingly) to ask Mirajane on a date on which she responded by transforming her head to that of Wakaba's head were on that he gave the normal funny respond.**

"**I hate it when you do that, it's so creepy!"**

**Everyone in the guild laughed at that except for one table where Natsu, Happy and Lucy were sitting. While Happy was devouring his meal which was just a fish, Natsu was mumbling on how he was broke.**

"It seems your guild is rather lively." Jiraiya commented toward the guildmaster who simply smiled and nodded.

"**I guess we should try to find another job," Natsu grumbled.**

**Happy joined in "Aye, we're running out of food money." Before going back to his meal.**

**Lisanna walked by and smiled "If you can't afford to eat today, I can cook something for you guys. I won't charge you anything."**

Some of the girls seemed to send Lisanna a cheeky smile, causing the girl to blush, though Natsu remained somehow miraculously oblivious causing Happy to slap his own forehead.

"**Nah it's no that Lisanna," Natsu sighed "thank you I really do but we need more money to pay our rent."**

"**That would be no problem if we took that 2 million jewels reward." Lucy reminded him while still slightly ticked off about it but then reminds that she also had to pay her rent soon "I guess I better find work too."**

"Okay I remember when this was now." Lucy said remembering some of the things that had happened that day.

**She turned around and before she got to the quest board, she noticed someone walking in the guild.**

**It was Naruto, wearing just a pair of boots, trousers and a t-shirt which didn't cover much of his body as his arms and and parts of his shoulders were exposed. He still wore the bandana over his left eye and the mask over his mouth.**

Several of the girls seemed to blush. The shinobi had not realized how much Naruto had truly grown and wondered if under his jump suit the formerly scrawny brat really was as fit as his counterpart.

"Of course he would make himself look like Kakashi." Sasuke commented in an irritable tone of voice. He hadn't wanted to be here, preferring instead his training. Hagoromo hadn't really given him a choice though.

**He dried his arms up with his towel and said "Mira! Can I get the usual? I'm done training."**

"I bet it's Ramen." Kiba snickered.

"Sucker's bet, we all know it's Ramen." Shikamaru replied.

**Mirajane smiled and turned around "Sure! Coming right up!"**

**Naruto went over to the table next to Natsu's and tapped the back of a man of average height with a short, straight, slicked back dark blue hair "Hey Macao, how's it going?"**

"**I'm doing good, kid." Macao gestured "Sit down here. I see you just finished your training?"**

"I like the friendliness the guild has. It's very inviting." Hinata stuttered out causing the Fairy Tail members to puff up their chests slightly in pride.

**He sat down and answered "Yes, I did the usual. Around 4 hours done."**

"That's his usual!" Lucy cried out, though the Shinobi weren't all that surprised. Outside of Lee, Naruto was hands down the most devoted to his training out of all of them.

**Macao noticed checking Naruto and chuckled "I can see that your whole back is drenched in sweat."**

"**It is?" Naruto turned his head to try and look "Damn, I barely notice that anymore."**

**Wakaba waved his hand in front of his nose "And that smell like you've been running a marathon."**

"At least he trains Wakaba." Cana sniped at her guild mate causing the man to exaggerate his reaction to her comment and clutch at his chest.

**Some of the guys laughed just as Mirajane brought a bowl of ramen in front of Naruto and commented "Well, I say good for Naruto. At least he uses his time productively."**

**Cana smirked, "Yeah, unlike some of you."**

"Glad to see other me agrees with me." Cana laughed.

"**Hey!"**

"**Thanks for the food Mira," Naruto said as he began to eat it.**

**Cana's cheeks were red from the alcohol and ask drunkenly "So, Naruto. What are you planing to do today?"**

"Lady Tsunade is that your daughter?" Shizune quietly questioned causing both Cana and Tsunade to sputter with Tsunade sending a betrayed glare at her assistant for that comment. So unlike her.

"**I don't know to be honest. I already paid my rent for the upcoming three months, so what about-"**

"It just might be." Kakashi joked, only to receive a heavy blow to the head from the Hokage.

"Keep your mouth shut mask boy. You're still on thin ice for giving Naruto your bad habits." She growled.

**He saw that Cana grabbed out of nowhere a barrel of wine and started downing it until she couldn't drink anymore.**

Both Cana and Tsunade looked away with slight tints on their cheeks as their fellow readers gave them accusatory looks.

**Naruto sighs at the usual Cana, smiling "Never mind."**

* * *

**Five minutes later**

**Naruto just walked out of the restroom but noticed someone else except for Nab, the guild member who doesn't know what quest he wants to pick.**

**The girl was wearing a white shirt, a pink ribbon in her hair, a red t-shirt and brown boots while carrying a whip around.**

**He saw the girl scoping for a quest "Finding a magic bracelet….Lifting a spell from a cursed cane….Fortune-telling love using astrology...Exterminating the evil spirits in a volcano?! I didn't know there was so much different kind of requests for mages…"**

"Very similar to shinobi missions, they can range from everything including walking dogs and painting fences to hunting down rogue shinobi or armed escorts." Asuma commented.

"**Excuse me." That voice made Lucy stiff for a moment before turning around to see Naruto standing in front of her.**

Teasing smiles from Cana and Mirajane were shot toward Lucy who blushed and sunk in on herself slightly.

"**H-hello."**

"**I guess we didn't meet before, you must be the new one here. What's your name?" Naruto asks, just as Mirajane walks by.**

**Lucy saw the began to turn red and stutter "I-I-'m-"**

"Oh my suddenly so shy." Mirajane teased lightly causing chuckles from the group as Lucy blushed crimson at her counterpart's reaction.

"**Don't worry Lucy, he won't bite." Mirajane tried to calm the blonde girl down and took it over "Naruto, this is Lucy. She's the newest member of Fairy Tail and the reason you haven't seen her much is that she's been going away on quests with Natsu and Happy."**

"Yosh Naruto-kun is one of the kindest and most youthful Konoha shinobi." Lee spouted loudly getting groans from his teammates and a bright smile and thumbs up from his sensei.

"**Lucy….you mean Lucy from like Hea-"**

"He knows my family?" Lucy questioned herself too quietly for all but those closest to her to hear. Erza placed a hand on the blonde's shoulder to comfort her knowing that her family's history was a difficult and sore subject for her friend.

"**NOPE! Just Lucy." Lucy waved her hands around "It's me from the time you saved me from that gang. You remember that?"**

"**...Oh yeah. Now I remember." Naruto nodded his head and smiled offfered his hand to shake it, eye smiling "Nice to see you joined. Welcome to Fairy Tail."**

"He seems to fit into Fairy Tail perfectly." Makarov commented with a small smile on his face, happy to see the boy this was all concerning seemed to match up to the Fairy Tail ideal attitude.

**Lucy cheeks blushed "Yeah, nice to meet you."**

**Mirajane giggled at the interaction and began changing the conversation "Lucy, if you are interested in taking one of these requests, just let me know. The master is away for a conference so I'm covering for him."**

"Oh." Mira suddenly said tapping a fist into her palm. "I remember this now too, though without Naruto of course."

"**Oh, so that's the reason why I haven't seen the old man. So it's that time again…" Naruto said knowing the routine occasion.**

"**What kind of conference?" Lucy asked.**

"**One for guild masters, every once in a while they all get together to talk about the state of things….It's a bit different from the Council, though…."**

"They are sounding awfully similar in many ways to our Kages." Shikamaru commented.

"**The Magic Council." Naruto rolled his eyes while speaking those two words with venom. Earning himself a questioned look from Lucy but a normal response from Mirajane who ignored it to put a finger on her chin, trying to figure out a better way to explain it better.**

**She then got an idea in her head asks a fellow guildmate, the 'obese' Reedus for something "Reedus, can you give me your Light Pen?"**

The shinobi perked up at the use of this light pen curious to see what it was exactly.

"**Of course, here." Reedus handed over his pen that had a glowing end to it.**

"**Thank you." Mirajane thanked him before turning around and starting to draw a hierarchy of diagrams in the air and explaining it from top to bottom "The most important people in the magic world are the 10 members of the Council, who have a connection with the government. They exist to maintain the order in the magic world. The Council can also pass judgment on mages who commit crimes."**

"They seem to have quite the large amount of power over society. Pretty similar to Konoha's council before Lady Tsunade started reorganizing them." Sakura said.

**MIrajane then pointed at the middle of the diagram as Lucy focused "And beneath the Council, there are Guild master leagues, where Guild Masters assemble. They relay the decisions of the Council, smooth out the communication between the guilds in the area, and keep us in order. It's a difficult job, right?"**

"**I didn't know that there were connections between guilds," Lucy said astonished by the diagram and oranization.**

"**It's important that we interact with each other, or else our structure would've fallen apart." Mirajane added.**

"It's no wonder that your world seems far more peaceful and stable than our own. Maybe if the Kages met often to work together war would be less frequent." Jiraiya scratched his chin in thought.

"The question remains Lord Jiraiya, how do you convince all the Kages to meet and find common ground. Even when at 'peace' the five villages are hostile to each other, especially places like Kiri during it's civil war and Iwa in it's hate for Konoha after we defeated them in the last three wars." Shikamaru commented. He wasn't trying to shot down Jiraiya's work toward peace, much the opposite in fact. This was the same thing he did when talking to Naruto, he helped to refine the boy's ideas before they were thrown out there.

For their part the guild members were a little uncomfortable knowing that their counterparts of the shinobi world seemed to continuously surrounded by war and conflict. Just some of the small stories they got during the break had taught them that the Shinobi were taught since early childhood to be soldiers for their village. Something Makarov and his 'children' felt conflicted by.

"**Yeah," Naruto stared at the structural plan of the diagram "I personally find this a good plan, communications between guild masters, corporation, multiple meetings to build trust. Pretty much a good system, well except for the Council, most of them are nothing but bureaucratic thick headed morons."**

"Naruto wasn't even my student in that world, and yet he shares my hope and dreams for peace it seems." Jiraiya smiled proudly.

**Lucy sweatdropped, did this guy have some grudge against the Magic Council or was this a universal in this guild. She already had heard it from the master Makarov but now from him…**

Looks from the Shinobi prompted Gray to respond. "They're very corrupt, or at least it feels that way. Much more concerned with image than the needs of the people they are in charge of."

"We know what that's like." Sakura commented remembering the councilors from Konoha when acting as Tsunade's aide.

**Natsu appeared out of nowhere with an evil grin and his finger burning a small fire, spoke in a demonic tone "And then the guys in black show up."**

**Lucy screamed scared of her chest.**

This left many of those gathered laughing at the poor girl's expense as she sent a death glare to the laughing Natsu.

**Natsu laughed while holding the back of his head "Hahaha! That was almost too easy!"**

"Jerk." Lucy grumbled.

"**Are you trying to scare me to death!?" Lucy shouted at him while holding her chest.**

"**But seriously, the guys Natsu is talking about do exist." Mirajane said while drawing another diagram "These are the dark guilds, they have chosen not to join any of the leagues. They're the bad apples and most of them are involved in magical crime."**

"Sounds like rogue-nin." Kakashi commented.

"**Wow," Lucy was amazed but also slightly scared.**

"**Don't worry, they rarely pose a threat nowadays. Mostly because the actions of someo of the guilds have been actively taking down some of these dark guilds, even members of the Magic Council have been involved in rooting them out." Mirajane said and mentioned, "Right, Naruto?"**

A few shinobi rose their eyebrows at this, perhaps Naruto was in some form a hunter-nin of some kind.

**Naruto smiled "Of course, Mira-Chan."**

"**Uhm, I don't follow."**

"**Oh yeah, you don't know. You see, Naruto is one of our mages who's active working with other guilds in fighting these dark guilds, "Mirajane told he celestial mage "he gets quests from the Magic Council and he with mages from other guilds go and hunt down dark mages who pose a threat."**

"Impressive." Makarov commented. Naruto must truly be a skilled individual.

"Never would have expected it of the Gaki, but honestly he probably would excel at that kind of work." Tsunade idly thought.

"**Wow," Lucy turned to Naruto and asks "you've met with other guilds?"**

"**Yes, of course, I've met some very powerful mages and a lot of them and many of them became good friends of mine after I proved myself," Naruto answered to her question.**

"It seems Naruto is a truly manly individual. A skilled fighter and he has lots of connections with other guilds." Elfman said getting a few nods from the others.

**Mirajane smiled "Naruto is known for defeating and capturing over 49 dark mages from 8 different dark guilds. This gave him the nickname 'the Shadow of Fairy Tail.'**

"He must at least be an A-rank shinobi by that point if not S-ranked." Kakashi commented with his eye widened. This got surprised looks from the other Konoha-nin all of which knew he was strong but had yet to see him truly prove that level of skill.

"**Why the Shadow of Fairy Tail?"**

"**Because Naruto's fighting skills are like that of a Shinobi," Lisanna said as she walked over to the counter with an empty tray "I'm not joking really when Naruto and I went to do a recovering request, we got jumped by like 5 dark mages, he took them all down without even using his magic. He picked them all off one by one and paralyzed them, ending it for us getting a good pay when we brought them in."**

"He could do so now as well, though he has had more formal training under your's truly than there it seems. A fighting genius in disguise I tell you." Jiraiya commented with an extremely proud glint in his eyes.

"Didn't you just peep while Naruto mostly trained himself." Tsunade sniped at the super pervert causing the man's over-inflated ego to pop like a balloon getting laughs from the shinobi and wizards alike.

"**He did?!" Lucy's eyes widened as she turned to Naruto "You're really that strong?"**

**Naruto was flattered "I'm not saying I'm that, I just got lucky that's all. Besides they weren't that powerful, just some A-class morons."**

The younger shinobi and wizards gaped at that flippant attitude in regards to A-class opponents.

"I take back what I said, he is obviously S-class." Kakashi commented.

'_**That ain't Nothing.' **_**Lucy's mind though.**

"No kidding other me." Lucy said getting a chuckle from those that heard her.

"**Whatever, say are you going to pick a job or not?" Natsu asked Lucy.**

**Lucy frowned "You've gotta be kidding me. What makes you think I want to do that?"**

"**Well, we are a team. Aren't we?" Natsu mentioned.**

**Happy then burst in saying "Yeah, and we picked the job last time. So it's your turn to pick, so get to it!"**

"**Just forget it cat, as far I'm concerned out team has been disbanded," Luy crossed her arms and huffed "and besides you guys didn't actually want me, you just needed me last time because I'm a blonde."**

"Oh?" Tsunade asked, suddenly eyeing Natsu and Happy like a big cat eyes it's prey.

Natus and Happy began sweating slightly under the glare from the Blonde Sannin.

"**Wait a moment, what do I hear here about needing a blonde?" Naruto looked in between the two and turns with a frown to Natsu and Happy "Guys…."**

**Happy and Natsu shrieked out of fear and quickly said "It was for a job! It was for a Job!"**

"Good boy Naruto, remind them to respect us blondes." Tsunade smiled ferally while staring the two down. Jiraiya took the book while she was distracted and continued reading.

**Naruto kept the frown and then asked: "You guys make sure she got paid?"**

"**...No. The guy's book was that from his father who was tormented."**

**Naruto sighed and turns around but couldn't be angry at his kindness "Okay, I let this slide for ones."**

"Naruto will always be soft hearted it seems." Sakura commented.

"Good, our world needs more people like him. Maybe then it wouldn't be so filled with hate." Jiraiya said.

"**Hey Lucy," Gray got their attention, sitting next to Cana "I wouldn't stay with those losers if I were you. You'll get plenty of offers from other teams."**

"Icy Bastard!" Natsu whirled around on Gray only to receive a heavy handed thump to the head from Erza that planted him face first into the floor along with a glare to keep him and theIce Wizard from fighting.

**Cana just mentioned "Your clothes, Gray."**

"**Crap!" Gray looked down, he was in his underwear again.**

**Natsu just cussed him "Jerk."**

"Here they go." Lucy said with a roll of her eyes.

**That comment made Gray glare at Natsu and in a second, they were at it again; Natsu and Gray garing at each other, butting heads giving each other insults.**

"**Did you just call me a jerk, dragon boy?"**

"**And what if I did, what are you going to do about it?"**

"**Chickenhead!"**

"**Least I'm not a coward!"**

"**You spineless wimp!"**

"**You're a freak!"**

"It reminds me of your days on team seven Sasuke, oh how you and Naruto would go back and forth." Kakashi joked at the broody Shinobi while wiping a fake tear.

Sasuke didn't reply simply shooting an unamused glare at the Jonin. Tsunade herself glared back for the Jonin at her very least favorite shinobi among Naruto's generation.

"**It looks like they're at it again." Happy said munching on another fish.**

"**Those two, urgh…." Naruto shook his head before turning towards Lucy who now was listening to Loke's attempt to flirt with her.**

**But then he took a few steps back after noticing something on Lucy's hip. He then hopped back on his feet and then when Happy mentioned one of her celestial spirits and then ran away out of the building.**

"What was that about?" Kiba asked.

"I'm sure it will explain in the story eventually, it's not really our places to say." Lucy replied getting nods from the others as if confirming the group thought along the same lines.

"**Celestial spirits...oh boy, I please I hope she isn't the holder of that key." He knew Loke had his own run-ins with celestial wizards, and it wasn't good ones.**

"Oh so Naruto knows at least part of Loke's situation?" Erza was surprised as were some of the others as Loke had been rather tight lipped about the full details of his situation.

**He noticed Gray punched Natsu and that his body was about to hit Lucy.**

"**Wow, watch out." Naruto grabbed Lucy by the shoulders and pulled her slightly to him before Natsu's body could hit her.**

**Lucy saw what happened and turned to her fellow blonde "Thanks." **

"**No problem," Naruto said before addressing the two guys "Really guys, can you both stop this for a moment, just a moment?"**

"**Natsu started it, I'm just following through," Gray argued.**

"**You're clothes, Gray," Cana saind.**

"**Damn it!"**

**Natsu got back up "You're the one who was provoking me, you dirty slimeball."**

**Gray's eyebrow twitched "Oh yeah, what did I do to provoke you? You fire clown."**

"**You perverted slasher!"**

"**Pink haired punk!"**

"I am beginning to see why Naruto fit in so easily." Sakura huffed, recalling trying to stop Sasuke and Naruto's fights all the time back when team 7 was together. The thought caused her to look over at Sasuke who continued to ignore her causing the pinkette to slouch slightly in her chair.

"**Lame insults, guys." Lucy deadpanned.**

**The rest of the guild started laughing at the two troublemakers going at each other yet again, Lucy couldn't help but smile and Naruto smirked giving an eye smile.**

"**We got bad news!"**

**Everyone turned towards the main entrance, seeing that Loke was already back and in distress.**

"**It's Erza, she's on her way here!"**

"How exactly is that bad news?" Erza commented, her face red, though out of embarrassment or rage the others couldn't tell.

Kakashi and Jiraiya were suddenly struck with horrifying flashbacks of Kushina and suddenly felt a need to butter up Naruto with a few new jutsus just to make sure they weren't facing the wrath of the Red Hot Habanero when they eventually passed to the pure lands.

**Everyone except for a few began to freak out when that name was mentioned.**

**Lucy was impressed by the sudden change of sphere "Wow, just mentioning her and the whole place goes crazy."**

"**Well, she is the strongest female wizard we've got in Fairy Tail," Mirajane said.**

Tsunade eyed Erza speculatively and nodded feeling the red head seemed to hold the aura of a strong fighter.

"**Don't forget the fact she's a bit intimidating," Lisanna mentioned the small fact.**

"**Yeah, to put that lightly, but that's Erza for you," Naruto added.**

**Then they started to hear loud footsteps, it sounded like it was coming closer and this got the guildmates to start sweat and shriek. **

"**That's got to be her."**

"**Those sounds like her footsteps."**

"**Even the air has gone completely still."**

"What a build up for her introduction." Kurenai laughed along with the Shinobi each loving how similar to the likes of Tsunade for the younger generation or Kushina for the older generation the girl was.

"**Man from these reactions you'd think she's some kind of demon." Lucy said imagining Erza as some kind of demon and frightening her "I'm so scared!"**

Erza shot a hurt look at her blonde friend who waved her hands in front of her stammering out about not knowing her yet.

**The person entered the the guild hall and brought in a large object which was to be revealed as a horn that must've belonged to an animal that had been slain. It was put down next to the person carrying it with a loud thud.**

**THe person was a woman, or more precisely a 19-year-old girl that had a slender voluptuous figure. It may not be seen at first because of the custom-made armor breastplate that resembles of the medieval days. The armor was made by Heart Kreuz, the most popular clothing line for young girls and women. She also wore a blue skirt and black boots, and the diamond shaped silver earrings. But her most noticeable was her scarlet hair and brown eyes.**

A loud wham from Jiraiya impacting the floor startled those in the room as Tsunade took back over reading while blowing a slight amount of smoke off her fist.

**This was Erza Scarlet, the strongest female wizard of Fairy Tail.**

"**I have returned, where is master Makarov?" Erza sternly asked.**

"**She's beautiful." Lucy breathed with a mini tint of redness on her cheeks.**

"Thank you Lucy." Erza said to her friend who gave her a grin. Both knew fully well how attractive most guys both in Fairy Tail and out of it considered them beautiful, but it meant a great deal to get such compliments from their friends.

"**Welcome back, Erza. The master is at a conference right now." Mirajane said.**

"**I see." Erza complied as she puts a hand on her hip.**

"**Erza, what's that huge thing?" One of the guildmates asked.**

"**It's the horn of the monster I defeated. The locals were so thankful that they decorated it and gave it to me as a souvenir." She looked at the guy "Why you got a problem with it?"**

"**NO, not at all!"**

"It's like she is a mix of Tsunade and Kushina, how is that even allowed to exist by the universe." Jiraiya grumbled from the floor where he remained.

"**You know, she's not anything that I had imagined," Lucy said.**

**Lisanna giggled "Well, it's not her looks that cause everyone here to be scared of her, you'll soon find out."**

"**But she's a caring person and someone fun to hang out with." Naruto patted Lucy's arm "So just relax."**

Erza smiled at that, having so far come to regard this Naruto as being someone she would enjoy having in Fairy Tail.

"**Now listen up," Erza turned her head towards everyone, making them shiver "while I was on the road I heard a few things. Word is that Fairy Tail had been causing nothing but trouble as of late. Master Makarov may not care, but I certainly do!"**

"**Here begins the road call," Naruto said.**

"**Cana! You need to start controlling your drinking." The brunette stopped drinking. "Vijeeter! Take the dancing outside! Wakaba! Get rid of the filthy habit of yours! Nab! I would suspect you still standing there in front of that board, just pick a job already!"**

**She then turned to Macao "Macao!"**

**The man went stiff.**

**Erza instead just sighed.**

"**Please just say something!" Macao cried.**

A few snickers at how Erza handled the guild slipped into light laughter after Macao's reaction causing the man to grumble and glare at the others in the room.

"**I don't even know where to begin with you" She grabbed for her head and shook "Honestly you guys cause so much trouble sometimes I've just given up."**

"**She's really tearing into everyone." Lucy nervously muttered "It's like she's taking over.**

"Someone has to try and keep them in line." Erza commented flippantly.

"Oh trust me I understand." Tsunade said getting a dirty look from Shizune. The Slug Sannin expertly ignored it though and continued reading.

**Happy appeared "That's Erza for ya."**

"**Even if she's kinda bossy, she's saner then everyone else in here. I don't understand why everyone is so afraid of her."**

**Naruto points to her right "Look out there."**

"**Are Natsu and Gray here?"**

**Lucy turned around to see something that surprised her.**

"**H-Hey there Erza, We're just hanging around as good friends do." Gray and Natsu gave nervous smiles while crossing their arms over each other's back and shaking hands like really close friends, all that in fear of course.**

**Natsu replies "A-Aye."**

The Shinobi couldn't help it they burst into laughter, half of them imagining Naruto and Sasuke in a similar position. It actually wouldn't have been hard to imagine that had Sasuke not left the village and Tsunade tried to curb their rivalry.

"**He's talking like happy!" Lucy exclaimed in shock.**

"**That's great, I'm quite pleased to see you two finally getting along." Erza smiled nodded her head "However it's only natural that even the best of friends squabble every now and then."**

"**I don't know if we're the best of friends." Gray replied.**

"**A-Aye." Natsu added.**

"**What's gone into Natsu!?" Lucy now was too confused.**

"**Cause Natsu and Gray know better than to piss of Erza. A few years ago he challenged Erza to a fight and got beaten up badly." Naruto said to her.**

"That reminds me! Hey Erza when we return to Fairy Tail how-" Natsu began to challenge the redhead only to have his mouth covered by Gray and get pulled into his seat.

"Shut-up Flame Brain do you want to die?" The Ice-Make Wizard hissed.

"**That's a stupid thing to do." Lucy said.**

"**After that she found Gray walking around naked and decided to beat him up too." Macao added to the list of reasons to why people fear Erza.**

Gray shivered slightly at the memory, Erza having seemingly come out of nowhere to him at the time.

**Cana who for once is not drinking, decided to bring in another story "And lets not forget she also beat up Loke for trying to hit on her. He totally deserved it though."**

**Lucy quipped on that one "Yeah, can't say I blame her."**

**Naruto spoke "So Erza, from what I see, you normally come back here and relax, eating a strawberry cheesecake and forget about everything, but instead of that I can see you're planning something now, I'm I right?"**

"Well Naruto has changed a bit." Ino commented.

"Actually Naruto has shown many times he can be surprisingly perceptive on some things." Shikamaru replied. He honestly found the phenomenon a bit interesting as Naruto seemingly flip-flopped from a top of the line shinobi to a moron at the drop of a hat.

**Erza turned to Naruto and gave him a smile and nod "Your're right Naruto, still as sharp as ever." She eyes Naruto, who eyed back.**

"**Like I ever lost it. Dear Erza."**

"Atta boy Brat!" Jiraiya bellowed only to be silenced once again by Tsuande, though the teasing smirk she then sent toward Erza alongside a few other shinobi and more than a few of her friends among the guild caused her to blush.

**Erza huffed it with a smug smile before turning towards the two "Natsu, Gray. I need you to do a favor." The two turned towards Erza and paid attention to what she wanted to say.**

"**While traveling I heard something that made me worried. Normally I would consult with the master on an issue like this but he's not here and this is a matter of utmost urgency. I can use you both for this."**

**The dragon slayer and the ice mage looked between each other while the whole guild couldn't believe what they were hearing.**

"This is very similar to what happened in our world. I'm curious how Naruto being around will change things." Erza said.

"**We'll meet at the train station tomorrow morning." Erza informed them and then turned to her blonde friend "An you Naru- Where is Naruto?"**

**Between Mira and Lucy where Naruto was standing now was empty.**

**The only sound that everyone was hearing in the silence was the sound of clicking shoes.**

"That's rude. Is he skipping out on it so he doesn't get involved?" Ino asked a little peeved Naruto was acting in such a way.

"I highly doubt Naruto is skipping out on it, he can't ignore people when they need his help." Sasuke commented causing several of the shinobi to stare at him in surprise, causing the boy to glare at them once again.

**Everyone turned towards where it came from and saw that Naruto was on his way out and "I'll see you guys at the train station, oh and this." Naruto threw something backwards.**

**Lisanna catches it and it was a bundle filled with jewels.**

"**Thanks for the meal, girls." Naruto gave out a wave to everyone "See you guys in a few days."**

"Tch, acting so cool and stuff." Kiba grumbled much to the amusement of his sensei and his team.

"**See ya!" Most guild mates waved him goodbye.**

**MIrajane giggled "There he goes, preparing for another job."**

**Wakaba smirked while puffing out smoke "That kid doesn't sit still, not even asked and already prepares for the job."**

"He really seems like the perfect friend someone could ask for." Lisanna stated.

Sasuke glanced at the girl and shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Naruto and bonds of friendship.

**Lucy couldn't help but raise her eyebrow and asks Happy "Why is everyone talking so good about Naruto."**

**Happy replies in his usual manner "Because everyone knows that's Naruto's nature. He's always ready to help out a fellow guild mate."**

"Yosh, Naruto's flames of Youth burn brightly no matter the situation!" Lee screamed, before being yanked back into his seat by an embarrassed Tenten.

"**That's true." Nab says catching Lucy's attention "You can ask anyone in this guild, Naruto has helped people no matter what their problem is. JUst like how he comforted Macao's son when he was missing. That is Naruto."**

Macao smiled at that alongside most of the other readers.

**Macao smiled, he had to properly thank him for calming his son down and giving him hope. Sure he did not rescue him but he gave his son the comfort he needed.**

**Cana chuckled "That's Naruto for you." She took a sip from her jug of beer, while a blush was lightened on her cheeks.**

"**Whatever it is, the big thing is that with Natsu, Gray and Erza joining up as a team, the would be the most powerful team, but with Naruto joining in it IS the most powerful team this guild might have."**

"Oh that's right. Erza, Gray, Natsu, and Lucy already made a superstrong team now adding Naruto in it will be really powerful." Mirajane commented while tapping her chin in thought.

**Happy flew up high and exclaimed. "Hooray for Naruto!"**

* * *

"**HOORAY!"**

**Outside the guild hall, Naruto heard the cheering from his fellow guild mates. He couldn't stop smiling and gave it a thought.**

'_**Glad I was brought here.'**_

That thought caused the Shinobi to shift uncomfortably and even a couple to gain worried looks. They all knew they could have treated Naruto much better than they did and this story was helping to realize that perhaps there was truth to the saying 'you don't know what you've got till it's gone'.

* * *

**Next Day, Magnolia station**

"**Can you explain me why have we decided to come here three hours earlier?" Lucy groaned out loud, while everyone has already arrived Naruto was the only one who hasn't arrived yet. She was holding her snowman celestial spirit who kept shaking.**

Kakashi began sweating as Tsunade and Sakura's glares seemed to narrow upon him.

**Happy was munching on his fish snack and explained "Have you forgotten already? He has a habit in getting late and coming up with an excuse, are all of you blondes this dumb?"**

"Kakashi if Naruto gains your habits in our world, I will make it to wear the only food you's be eating is through a straw for the foreseeable future." Tsunade commented calmly, which somehow made it even more terrifying as her glare didn't match the tone of her voice at all.

**Lucy was ticked off "Don't start with that, cat!"**

**Natsu and Gray still played the friendly buddies part while Erza sighed waiting for Naruto wasn't new for her as she got used to it like most of the guild who worked with him.**

**Happy flew up with the fish in his mouth pointing at the hallway "There he is!"**

**Naruto was wearing his brown trousers, boots, a green flack jacket, a brown coat he was wearing over his jacket and his bag for his travels.**

"It's weird not seeing him wearing any orange." Sakura said too herself sadly. This story was starting to make her feel like she owed Naruto an apology. She honestly hated the idea of her surrogate brother not being on her team. The three years he had been gone had actually been drab without him around, but never seeing him again made her almost feel sick to her stomach.

Sakura didn't realize that similar thoughts and feelings were running through the rest of the shinobi's minds as well.

"**Hello guys, sorry for the waiting. I couldn't leave the place without enjoying a warm cup of ramen."**

"That's more believable than you might think." Kakashi said.

**Lucy frowns "Why am I thinking you're lying?"**

"**Because he is, silly. Haven't I told you it just a minute ago?" Happy reminded her.**

Again Kakashi began to sweat as Sakura suddenly switched seating to be right beside her teacher, the pleasant smile on her face setting off alarms throughout his brain.

**Lucy fumed at the cat.**

Happy laughed at Lucy as she glared up at the flying cat.

**Erza smiled "Not a problem, Naruto. You're just in time."**

Lucy gave a deadpan stare to Erza for not even calling Naruto out, but the redhead simply shrugged her shoulders. It seemed they planned for Naruto's lateness so what did it matter.

**Naruto eye smiled "Great, let's go."**

"**Wait! What about the baggage?" Lucy said pointing at the mountain of baggage that belonged to Erza.**

"**Allow me." Naruto stepped forwards and pulled out of his coat a scroll and opened it before laying it down and then pulls up his sleeve.**

"Oh ho, now you shall see everyone a Sealing expert in the act!" Jiraiya shouted.

"But Lord Jiraiya that Naruto didn't really get training from you right? So how is he good with seals." Choji asked.

"Oh that's simple the kid is a natural with sealing he is an Uzumaki afterall." Jiraiya said before Tsunade stomped on his foot and continued reading slightly louder drawing confused glances from several but a suspicious look from Sasuke, Shikamaru, Sakura, and several of the Wizards.

**Lucy watched what was written on the scroll "What language is that?"**

"**I don't know, we asked the same thing. He just says it's a contract." Natsu/Gray/Erza/Happy replied while observing Naruto's work.**

Lucy gave a dull stare to her friends, all of which simply shrugged at her.

**Lucy asked out of curiosity "What kind of contract?"**

**He bit his nail and started to sign the middle part of the contract.**

**Lucy was creeped out "Why did he sign it with his own blood?"**

The wizards were all a little creeped out, especially when the shinobi explained that blood contracts for sealing and summoning was very common causing them to be even more on guard around the shinobi.

"**I don't know, he does that all the time." Natsu/Gray/Erza/Happy replied.**

"**You guys should listen to yourself." Lucy Sweatdropped.**

"What other me said." Lucy grumbled as the four persons in question simply shrugged their shoulders again.

**He started making a series of signs with his hands before slamming his hand into the middle part of the contract.**

**POOF! The area around Naruto was filled with smoke.**

"***cough* *cough* what was that?" Lucy waved the smoke off, and when it cleared she was gasping like a fish.**

"**Where is all the baggage?!" the only thing left was the cart that transported it.**

"That's amazing!" Makarov commented.

"Do you think you could teach me?" Erza asked looking at the Shinobi.

"Oh I most cert-" Jiraiya was cut off by another whack from Tsunade.

"Maybe, but our abilities don't use the same energy as yours so it might have to be adjusted or it might not work at all.

"**In here." Naruto showed the scroll that was small and tossed it to Erza who catches it.**

"**Thanks Naruto."**

"**B-but-"**

**Naruto waved his hand "I'll explain it after Erza explained the job we're about to do." He turned o the two others "And? You guys have anything to say?"**

"**Yes, Erza." Natsu got her attention "I'll come with you but only under one condition."**

"Moron." Gray groaned. All Natsu shot at him was a heated glare, though he really wished it was a ball of actual fire instead. With Erza looming over his shoulder though he reigned it in.

**Gray immediately responded "Shut up!"**

Gray threw up his hands as if to sarcastically say 'Thank you!' to his other.

"**Oh? What is it?"**

**Natsu held his fist with a grin "I want a rematch when we get back to Fairy Tail."**

"**What's wrong with you? You've got some kind of death wish?" Gray said behind Natsu.**

Gray shot a smug look at Natsu who only glared back. The rest of the guild and most of the shinobi chuckled at their interactions.

**Natsu ignored the others "I've become a lot stronger since the last time. This time will be way different. Cause I'm gonna beat you!"**

**Naruto smiled at Natsu's determination, he reminded him a lot….of himself. Full with spirit and never giving up.**

"I can see it." Sakura said with a chuckle.

"Natsu is really exactly how I imagine any child you and Naruto would have Sakura." Kiba said before the pinkette introduced him to the floor.

**Erza was silent for a moment before giving her response "Yes I can tell you've been improved. As to well if you can beat me. I suppose we have to see." She faces up "I accept your challenge."**

"**Oh yeah!" Natsu yells into the sky "I'm fired up!"**

**Everybody started to enter the train as it was set to leave with almost everyone in it.**

**Naruto was the last to board the train but then sensed something. He looked around and saw nobody was there.**

The readers tensed at that.

**He still sensed something nearby and decided to reach for something in his coat-**

"Shinobi." Shikamaru grunted.

"But what village. Not to mention are they after Naruto because of his connection to Konoha or for another reason." Kakashi said.

"**Hey Naruto!" Happy landed on his head "COme on, we've found a seat."**

**Naruto stopped reaching for his coat and said "Okay, let's go." he boarded the train as it started leaving the train station.**

**In the steam of the train that just left, a figure stepped out of the steam. It was a masked man with armor plates covering his body from top to bottom, and he had a tattoo that was noticeable on his arm.**

**The mark of the Hidden Leaf village.**

"I was afraid of that." Tsunade sighed.

The group took a moment to stretch before Erza was given the book to read the third chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

With a go ahead from the two spirits among them, Erza flipped to the third chapter and the group readied to read. Several were nervous, especially among the shinobi. With a Hunter-nin there, Naruto was in danger, serious danger and the readers were unsure of what was to come should Naruto be confronted by a former comrade of the Leaf.

**The train was making its way through the vast landscape as it was going to its next stop. With on it, members of the Fairy Tail guild that was on a quest.**

"You know, we saw some of those being used in our world too. It looks like it's more common in Fiore though." Kakashi commented.

"They look pretty useful. Where did you see one?" Asuma asked his fellow Jonin.

"The Land of Snow, or I guess the Land of Spring after Naruto rescued Princess Yukie and she activated the heat generators." Kakashi informed, though he sort of rambled off into his memories of the mission toward the end. Oh how happy he used to be with his overly-reckless genin team. Back before his most favorite pain in the ass did exactly what he said not to.

Both the Shinobi and Mages were a little shocked to hear Naruto had saved a Princess. Then again, Kakashi and Jiraiya had both been boasting about the Great Naruto Bridge from the infamous Wave Mission during the break, so a Princess seemed par for the course.

**But currently, in one of the cabins, they had different issues to worry about. Like the fact that Natsu's motion sickness was kicking in and he laid back like he was going to puke.**

"So you have really bad motion sickness? That's a tough break." Asuma said with a chuckle.

"All Dragon Slayers have motion sickness, Wendy is just able to cure hers with her powers." Natsu said with a grimace.

The Shinobi chuckled slightly at such a weakness for a set of powers. It was humorous but they could also see the issues that it could cause.

**"I swear Natsu, you are totally pathetic. One minute you're picking a fight and then you end up like this " Gray commented while looking out the window. How could that the dragon slayer challenge one of the most powerful wizards of their mage but not stand it riding a train? Of course, this was coming from the mage who would get off his clothes in a blink of an eye without anyone else or even his own knowledge.**

Both groups shot a look at the pair of embarrassed mages.

**In the cabin sat Lucy and Erza on the other side while next to Natsu sat the fish eating Happy who was sitting between the ice mage and the dragon slayer.**

**Lucy was a bit sympathetic but minded "it's got to be tough getting from place to place." **

**"Don't worry he'll be fine," Erza said as she offered a solution "Come here and sit next to me."**

**Natsu weakly replies "Aye…"**

**'I guess she wants me to move…' Lucy thought.**

A snort from Tsunade sent the shinobi and some mages into chuckles at Lucy's thoughts causing the blonde to blush and Erza to shoot her an apologetic look, not realizing she had seemed so rude then.

**Natsu sat next to Erza as she patted him on the head "Just relax okay…"**

**"…Aye."**

"Huh, to think we thought she was like another Kushina…" Murmured Jiraiya with nods from a few of the Jonin.

**CRACK!**

"Ah there it is." Jiraiya nodded along with the Jonin and Tsunade. The genin looked shocked but the mages all laughed at the misfortune of the Salamander.

**Natsu went K.O after Erza gave him a hard punch to his stomach to knock him out conscious so he landed his head on her lap.**

"It was a good hit." Tsunade said getting a small smile from the redhead as thanks for the compliment.

**"There, that should make the trip a little easier on him," Erza said like it was nothing serious after throwing a punch to the fire-eater while the others sweatdropped. Especially Lucy who thought:**

**'Okay, maybe she's not as sane as I thought she was.'**

"Uh Sorry?" Lucy squeaked out as Erza shot her a hurt look.

With a huff the Requip Wizard continued on.

**Gray then turns from the window to the armor wearing wizard "Hey Erza, I think it is time you started filling us in, I mean what kind of a mission are we going on here?"**

**"Wait." Lucy interrupted "Shouldn't we wait for Naruto?"**

The shinobi and other mages nodded, a little surprised that Naruto had yet to join them. However they couldn't help but worry it had something to do with the other shinobi they had seen.

**Happy pointed out of the window "Look."**

**She looked out of the window and saw something flying close by, it was a hawk with a letter attached to its claw, it flew next to the window before going upwards.**

**"What was that?"**

**"That was a messenger hawk." Happy said with his belly full "Jeez, are all of you blonds so dense."**

Tsunade, Ino, and Lucy all growled as they glared at the cat causing him to shudder and begin sweating under the pressure.

**"Watch your mouth, cat!"**

"You tell him Lucy!" Ino barked, getting an approving nod from Tsunade, though she was mostly joking, unlike the setting blonde genin. This of course left the poor celestial mage blushing from the awkward approval of her fellow blondes.

**bathroom **

**The bathroom, where multiple stalls and toilets where was now empty except for one guy **

**Naruto had turned on the tap and started to wash his hands, he just was finished doing his business in the toilet.**

"Ack! I don't want that information!" Sakura exclaimed with agreeing nods from several clothes and cackles from a few of the more childish boys.

**Then in front of him, a hawk landed and cried against him. He then noticed that there was something attached to its paw.**

**A message.**

"This is similar to our own Jonin, except while in the village the hawks simply call the jonin to the Hokage's tower for a mission, while they usually don't go to Jonin in the field but rather the various safehouses and outposts or other hidden villages." Iruka lectured.

"Sensei, please stop. You are killing people with boredom from your lectures." Konohamaru deadpanned at the teacher causing the scarred man to frown before glancing at his fellow readers.

The sight of so many bored stares made him flush and motion for Erza to continue.

**"Oh, thanks, little man." Naruto took the paper and started reading it. The hawk left through the open window.**

"Naruto-kun is kind even to animals." Hinata nodded as if instructing a class before blushing deeply when those around her chuckled at her crush for the blond.

_**Dear Naruto,**_

_**As you may guess this is not our usual way of communicating but because this is an urgent problem that needs to be dealt with, the Magic Council has decided that with your experience as a former combatant, you are chosen as the suitable person to accomplish this pressing matter.**_

"It's never good when a council contacts you directly." Kakashi mumbled getting a nod from the two Sannin beside him.

***Sigh* "I can already guess what kind of job this is."**

"Heh, the kid already understands our pain, poor brat!" Jiraiya said while his fellow high profile shinobi snickered at the thought of Naruto dealing with similar issues they had to.

_**As you may know, the former legal guild Eisenwald has been stripped of its legitimacy, after several investigations including for accepting assassination quests have ended resulting into the order of disbanding the guild all at once.**_

_**It seemed like even after the guild was disbanded and the guild leader was arrested, our sources have found out a plot by remaining members of the guild have started to plot an attack, the leader of the rogue mages that are suspecting of plotting is none other than the Death God, Erigor**_**.**

**The bathroom door behind him opened slowly, the person who entered was the white wearing mask in the station. Now wearing still his cloak, he closed the door behind him and locked it.**

The gathered readers seemed to tense as the ANBU made themself known in the story once again. While the Fairy Tail mages were worried, the shinobi knew far better than they did how dangerous an ANBU agent really was.

_**Because Erigor is a highly dangerous individual, the council believe it's unlikely he's going to be able to rehabilitate and re-integrate into society, not after killing indiscriminately innocent people. So the Magic Council has debated about the subject of Erigor and we've decided that it's for the best that Erigor has to deal with.**_

"How dare they!" Makarov bellowed suddenly taking both groups by surprise in his intensity.

The Fairy Tail members quickly caught on to his outrage though. Even if that Fairy Tail wasn't really theirs, Naruto in that world was one of Makarov's children, and being forced to take on that sort of mission by the magic council sickened and worried them. It went against their ideals to kill except in the most dire of circumstances, and never in an assassination like this appeared. Even if the target was a criminal.

_**That's why we send you now, the order to defeat Erigor the Death God. It is for the greater better that Erigor won't pose a threat in the future.**_

"Council bastards!" Natsu growled getting murmurings of agreement from his guild. The shinobi on the other hand were a little uncomfortable with the idea that a normal occurrence for them was such an issue for their magic wielding counterparts.

_**Destroy this message after reading it. We hope you remember the agreement you made to the Council.**_

_**The leader of the Magic Council**_

_**Gran Doma**_

Makarov rolled his eyes at the name. He should have guessed that fool would be the one leading this sort of plan.

**Naruto crushed the message in his hand furiously "Screw that old man and that damned deal…." **

"Oh! That-a-boy, I knew he was fairy tail material!" Makarov crowed getting a round of cheers from his comrades. The shinobi sadly remained conflicted. They disliked the idea of someone as friendly as Naruto having to take an assassination mission, but it was a part of who they were as shinobi. Wasn't it?

**The ANBU operative slowly was sneaking to Naruto and pulled out a kunai.**

"I forgot about that guy!" Natsu shouted, getting an annoyed look from Grey and Lucy, but most of the room ignored him in favor for the story.

**Naruto shredded the letter into several pieces before throwing it into the water, destroying it as it was asked.**

**"That is done…."**

**The ANBU took one last step before raising his kunai.**

"Turn around!" Happy shouted, before being shushed by others as they got into the story.

**"….I wonder when you would show up," Naruto said.**

"Of course he knew all along." Tsunade chuckled as she shook her head. The Shinobi remembered suddenly, this was the number one unpredictable knucklehead shinobi after all. It took a bit more to get the drop on him.

**The ANBU agent was surprised that he was spotted but this turned out to be his biggest mistake.**

**"Let's get this over with." Naruto pulled out a kunai from under his sleeve and tried to lay a hit on the masked agent who in response blocked it.**

**'CLANG! **

"Kick his ass Naruto!" Natsu shouted. The Fairy Tail mages agreed, and the shinobi did as well though they felt a sliver of guilt being as it was a fellow Konoha shinobi he was fighting.

**Onibas station**

**"Well, we're here." Gray said exiting the train as last "You think the Eisenwald guys are still going to be in this town?"**

"What?! NO! GO BACK TO THE FIGHT!" Natsu shouted before a swift crack to the stomach dropped him like a sack of potatoes.

"Now does anyone else have something to say or can I continue reading?" Erza asked calmly to the group, scanning for any raised hands or possible interruptions.

"Dear Kami, she really is like a mix of Kushina and Tsunade, we might die here Kakashi." Jiraiya whispered to his grand-student while both shook slightly in fear.

**"I have no idea, that's what we're here to find out." Erza replies as she was carrying the scroll filled with her baggage "I must say, I need Naruto to teach me that technique."**

**"Uhm, where is Naruto?" Lucy said before realizing something else "As a matter of fact, where Is Natsu?"**

**"Still on the train." Happy said while waving off the departing train "Aaand, there it goes."**

**Lucy dropped her luggage and stared with her mouth open at the train while Erza started blaming herself in an exaggerating way, and Gray….while not taking his clothes off he did bring up something.**

"These Fairy Tail mages sure are a stange lot." Whispered Kiba to Shino.

"I fear we have little room to argue that point. Why? It is because most of our shinobi are just as eccentric." Shino said while pointing at the Green Spandex clad duo.

Kiba could only sweatdrop realizing his friend was right.

**"That's strange," Gray puts his hand beneath his chin "Natsu, of course, didn't get out of the train because he's an idiot but I don't see a reason why Naruto stayed behind."**

**With Naruto**

**Naruto was leaning his back against the sink where he earlier was washing his hand, he was holding onto the mask of the ANBU agent he had defeated. **

"No we missed it!" Natsu and Konohamaru groaned. The younger Sarutobi always was ready to see his boss kick ass.

**He stared at the mask "I wish we would've met in a different situation" the blonde ex-shinobi turns to where the ANBU agent was.**

"So polite even to his opponents." Mira pointed out with a smile.

**He was laying on the ground, against the wall with his hands tied up from behind to the urinary. **

"Ugh I hope that bathroom was clean." Several of the readers grimaced at the thought.

**"You know, this isn't the first time I've been tracked down by the ANBU black ops."**

"Yet he is still free? Naruto is definitely powerful there." Jiraiya commented.

**The masked agent didn't respond. Probably because Naruto KO'd him. It was a man in his 20's, he was just a regular Leaf shinobi Naruto didn't know. He walked up to the man and placed the mask back on him and patted his head.**

**"Hopefully the hit I gave you in the back of your head will cause your memory loss because you're going straight back home," Naruto said to the unconscious agent while taking a few steps backward.**

"He is so care free about the situation. This must happen far too often." Lucy said. She wasn't too off put honestly, he seemed to have a very similar mindset to her fellow guild members.

**Naruto felt something drip off his head and felt it was the blood dripping off his head, he did get a cut from the guy but nothing serious.**

Wendy narrowed her eyes at the cut. She disliked seeing even small injuries she couldn't help with. Such a kind girl.

**He used his thumb to whip a little bit and went through a series of hand signs.**

**"Summoning Jutsu."**

**POOF! A small puff of smoke and there in front of him stood a small toad who had red skin and stripes and yellowish eyes, this was one of the gourd toads who had a shell on his mouth used for sealing.**

"Wait if he still has his summons doesn't that mean he could easily be in contact with Jiraiya-sama and technically Konoha?" Sakura asked. The others turned to the Sannin who simply grinned and nodded his head.

**"Hey little man, I need this man to be brought to Konoha, tell Pervy sage that its me alright?"**

"Even when he is being targeted by them, he is still loyal to the village." Hinata whispered sadly, but the others could still hear her.

Makarov was annoyed at this leaf village. It seemed that Naruto might not be in the same position as the one in the story, but he could tell the boy still deserved to be better treated. He looked forward to meeting him whenever their hosts would bring him. Several of the more mature wizards of his guild silently felt the same way.

**The toad only nodded in compliance.**

**"Good. Because this dude got me missing my stop." Naruto went over to the door and before leaving "Thanks. Also," Naruto pulls out a small piece of paper and handed it over to the toad "can you deliver this to Mirajane? The bartender with the white hair?"**

"Oh to me?" Mira asked surprised.

**The toad nodded again.**

**He opened the door and went back to pick up his stuff, the gourd toad began **

**to ready up for transporting the unconscious ninja.**

"Such useful little helpers." Levy said a little jealous. She couldn't help but imagine having little helpers like Naruto's toads.

**With Natsu on the train**

**A man with a pineapple looking hair in a white colored suit was walking through the wagons and saw something interesting, a sick mage with pink hair and the most notable mark on his arm; the Fairy Tail guild mark.**

**"Well look at here, it's a Fairy Tail wizard." The person leaned his arm against one of the seats and asked a question in a friendly way "How's the guild treating you these days? Is it worth sticking around?"**

"Oh, it's like an evil twin of Shikamaru who isn't lazy!" Ino said with a smirk causing the boy next to her to roll his eyes.

"Don't compare me to such a troublesome guy like that you bothersome woman." Shika remarked while feigning a nap.

Ino giggled at his reply but still couldn't forget the similarities between the man and Shikamaru.

**"What?"**

**Natsu received a kick in the face by the person "Don't act all high and mighty because you're in a legal guild Mr. Fairy," the guy smeared "You guys just blindly follow the Magic Council, do you know what we think of you? Harmless little flies." **

"How rude." Lisanna said.

**"Excuse me."**

"Enter the ever youthful Naruto-kun to defend his comrade!" Lee spouted off getting some smiles and light cheers from their group.

**The guy turned around and received a punch in the face and was sent flying to the other side of the wagon.**

"What a greeting." Erza chuckled along with the rest of the readers.

**The guy rubbed his head and looked who hit him, it was Naruto standing there with his arms crossed and facing him "You must be Naruto Uzumaki, another Fairy bug." **

"I don't see how they can look down the nose at your guild if it's known that you are a powerful one." Ino pointed out with a confused look at the man's attitude.

"It's because of their guild's twisted ideology. They considered any guild that was still legal as weaker or worth less for not taking the kinds of jobs that their guild preferred such as hit jobs." Mira explained with a few supporting nods from her fellow guild members.

**"And you must be Kageyama, you're a member of Eisenwald."**

**Kageyama smirked as he stood back up "Yes I am, may I know why you know my name?"**

"Pfft, Shinobi, duh." Kiba barked out getting puffed up chests from his comrades.

**"I know of you because you resemble a friend of mine, had a ponytail just like you and almost the same face, the thing is you are different of him is your personality."**

"Hehe, Shika do you think that maybe-" Ino started to tease her teammate.

"Don't finish that sentence you troublesome woman." Shika grumbled getting several laughs.

**"Oh yeah?" Kageyama smiled "What's so different?"**

"This ought to be good." Asuma said with a laugh ignoring the betrayed glare Shikamaru shot his way.

**"While he's most of the time a lazy, sleeping and saying everything was a drag, he was a smart guy."**

**"What are you trying to say?"**

**"Well, you are complete the opposite, you're reckless, picks fights and full of energy but-" before Naruto could end his sentence he had to jump avoiding the shadows that were going to hit him.**

"He is like your evil twin!" Ino sputtered out while trying to stop her laughter.

**Naruto landed a few feet back and saw the shadows surrounding him "Guess I hit a nerve. But that's for another time, where's Erigor."**

**"Why should I tell you?" **

**"Because he's wanted by the Magic Council, that's why!"**

**"Let's see about that, you miserable fairy." Kageyama said before focusing the shadows around his fist and running up towards him while yelling "Shadow **

**Fist!"**

Shikamaru grumbled about stupid magic copy cats making stupid attacks with their shadows. This just got mocking smiles from his friends causing him to grimace.

**Naruto grabbed for his kunai and infused his chakra in it and said "Fool…."**

**Natsu meanwhile was just watching while also trying to not puke.**

"As usual you are useless." Gray mocked getting the pink haired boy to literally roar fire before trying to pounce on the ice user.

Key term being trying as Erza caught him and smashed the boys' heads together before depositing them back into their seats.

**BOOM!**

With the sudden addition of more action Natsu was suddenly fine and paying attention again getting a head shake from Lucy who was simply too used to his antics.

**The people at the previous station heard the explosion and saw that one of the wagons was damaged. Among them were the Fairy Tail guildmates.**

**"What was that?" Lucy questioned, "That is where Natsu is."**

"As if." Gray scoffed getting a glare from Natsu but an even more forceful one from the redheaded knight.

"That's enough Gray." She said simply causing him to nod frantically and turn away. The rest of the gathered readers chuckled at the tight leash Erza kept the boys on with Tsunade and Sakura nodding their approval at Erza's handling of the boys.

**"It couldn't be him because the train is moving," Gray commented, "it must be Naruto." **

**"Whatever it is, we need to move." Erza clearly stated as she saw a magic mobile and smirked: "I got an idea."**

**"Uhm, I got a bad feeling about this," Lucy said slightly shaken.**

**Happy flew up "Let's go!"**

**In the train **

**Kageyama was on the ground, covered in some bruises as he just was knocked back by Naruto who was still standing.**

**"Damn it, lucky shot." he groaned slightly and felt that something was missing out of his chest "Crap! Where is it?"**

"Wait, he actually thinks it was just a lucky shot?" Several of the Shinobi asked together.

**A strange looking flute a skull and three eyes rolled up to Naruto's feet as he picked it up.**

The Fairy Tail guild members that had been on the mission narrowed their eyes at the flute in anger.

**Naruto recognized it in a second "That's…."**

**"Damn it, he saw it." Kageyama cursed to himself as he grabbed something from his pocket "Hope this works. Here catch!"**

**Naruto looked up and saw something rolling towards his feet, it was an explosive tag that was on fire. He then saw the shadow user getting out of the wagon.**

"How did he get ahold of something like that?" Jiraiya asked in an angry voice, though it was mostly to hide his worry for his godson's health. Not that he expected Naruto to actually be defeated by something so simple, but still he could be injured.

**"What?!…."**

**Outside**

**In a ridiculous amount of speed, Erza managed to catch on the train, she was driving the magic mobile while one of her arms was attached to the mobile since the mobile is running on magic energy Erza now was tapping off.**

**All the while, Gray was stuck on the roof while Lucy and Happy were in the backseat.**

**Lucy began yelling "Natsu! Naruto!"**

**Then there Naruto jumped out of the window with Natsu following him just as an explosion went off.**

"Boss is always living like he is in an action movie, it's so cool!" Konohamaru shouted getting some looks from the others.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, think back to literally any mission we went on. Think real hard about the things that happened." Kakashi said with a deadpanned stare. When the Sarutobi kid was right he was right.

"O-oh well when you put it like that yeah kind of I suppose." She blushed as she realized the truth to the kid's words.

Meanwhile Sasuke grumbled about glory hogging dobes and their ability to turn even catching a cat into something that included explosions and organized crime.

**"Naruto, behind you!" **

**Naruto saw the mobile and landed on the roof on his feet getting a compliment from Gray.**

"So cool!" Konohamaru cheered getting laughs and smiles from the other readers.

**"Nice landing," Gray said before he noticed Natsu was going straight at him.**

**'BOINK!'**

The readers roared in laughter whale Gray glared at Natsu who simply frowned at not sticking a cool landing like Naruto.

**The mobile stopped and Naruto jumped off the roof, watching as the train kept going.**

**Erza stepped out and asked "Naruto, are you alright?"**

"What about me?" Natsu asked.

"You're too hardheaded to get hurt from that." Lucy pointed out with a scoff.

**"Yeah, I'm fine. But how come he had an explosive tag?"**

**"Who are you talking about?" Lucy questioned next as Gray and Natsu were at it again bickering at each other.**

"Of course." The guild said with several eye rolls and annoyed sighs getting both boys to cross their arms over their chests and huff before glaring at one another for being copied.

**"That hurt, you jerk!"**

**"Shut up you icy freak!"**

"They are so much like you and Naruto were as kids that it hurts." Kiba pointed out to Sasuke getting a muffled 'hn' as his only response.

**"SHUT UP, both of you!" Erza shouted at them and forcing them both again to shake hands nervously before turning to Naruto "Naruto, what happened?"**

**"Kageyama, a member of Eisenwald. He was on the train. We fought on the train and I was beating him."**

**"Eisenwald?" Erza interest spiked "Are you sure?"**

**"He pretty much admitted it, but that's not the case. He had the Lullaby flute with him."**

**The expression of Erza was enough to understand what it was so she ordered: **

**"Everyone back on the mobile!"**

**Naruto got on top of the roof together with Gray while Natsu, Lucy, and Happy got in the backseat. Erza tapped her arm back to the mobile and they drove off forwards.**

"Is that dangerous at all Erza-san?" Hinata quietly asked. The kind girl was always worried about others getting hurt after all.

"Not really, the only issue is if I push myself too far. Then I will be too exhausted to fight properly." She replied with a smile at the shy looking girl.

**Kunugi station**

**A panicking crowd began fleeing after a man wielding a scythe just slashed one of the train conductors in front of them. **

**The man was an extremely tall, lean-built and muscular man, he had blue visible tattoos on his body and silver hair with a colored skirt with his feet wearing sandals, this was Death God Erigor, member of Eisenwald.**

"Huh, a lot of our bad guys have no eyebrows too…" Do you think there is a correlation?" Sakura mumbled to herself getting strange looks from the others. Except for Kakashi who simply married his own eye in though. Sakura was right, team seven had ended up squaring off with more than one enemy lacking in eyebrows. It was strange.

**"This train belongs to Eisenwald now!" Erigor ordered while his men were throwing everything off the train, even the passengers.**

**"Get everything off the train, luggage, conductor, all of it. If anyone tries to defy us to kill them all."**

**Kageyama then exited the wagon and spotted Erigor "Well look who's here."**

**Erigor turned around "Kageyama, I heard you were coming back aboard this train. It's quite of wreckage, care to explain what happened?"**

**"Come on, aren't you interested what I brought back with me?" the Shadow magic user pulls out the Lullaby flute "I finally managed to break the seal."**

**"Oh yeah."**

**"Finally we got it."**

"You won't keep it long you bastards!" Natsu exclaimed getting determined nods from the rest of his team and a grin from their quildmates. The shinobi smiled at the idea of Naruto helping stop these guys. If they could do it alone, imagine what they could do with this obviously much more focused Naruto.

**"Excellent." Erigor chuckled as he grabbed the flute and turns to the others "This is it, men. The forbidden Lullaby. Originally this was a tool to cast simple death curses. Useful but limited. That is until the great dark wizard Zeref transformed it into a demon flute. Now its song will kill hundreds, no thousands of people who listen to it. And it's all mine!"**

"It seems there are always those looking to gain massively powerful weapons, no matter how peaceful the land they reside in. Maybe peace really is just a dream." Jiraiya though silently. He smirked slightly after that though. He was certain Naruto would prove him wrong. He could feel it in his bones, Naruto would change the world, no matter which one he was in. It all started with missions like this one. Naruto would put a stop to these criminals and spread a sense of safety to the people around him. Same thing he was doing in the elemental nations in their world.

**The mobile was racing through the fields while all the occupants weren't used to such speed. Naruto was standing still on the roof while Erza was too focused on the road.**

**"Naruto, are you sure Erigor is in on this?" Erza asked out loud.**

**"There's no one else in that guild that is willing to do that," Naruto replied back to Erza "after the Magic Council had disbanded Eisenwald for its illegal activities, Erigor was the only one standing after their master has been arrested. He's more likely to lead this."**

**"Then we must take them down quickly." Erza said, "We cannot allow them to use that magic!"**

"I can't help but feel that Erza and Naruto would make a perfect team together for all sorts of missions." Tsunade commented getting a somewhat surprised look from Erza.

"Actually I wish you were a kunoichi, I'd put the two of you on a team with Shizune and let the three of you go to work. It would be terrifying. For our enemies at least." Tsunade continued. Shizune hummed at the thought and even Kakashi and Jiraiya nodded in agreement getting an intrigued look from the Fairy Queen.

Then again after initially nodding both Kakashi and Jiraiya froze up at the thought of Naruto who was like a blond Kushina and Erza who was a like a mixture of Kushina and Tsunade being on a team. They doubted Shizune, who wrangled Tsunade daily into doing her job and limited the damage she could do, could properly control the two of them.

**"Just slow down will ya!" Gray yelled, "You're using too much of your magic to drive this thing."**

**"Just keep on driving Erza!" Naruto yells "If you feel a little strung, I'll tap in for ya!"**

"Hmm that suggests that Naruto's chakra has similar enough properties to Erza's magic that he can act as a stand in in for it's use." Shikamaru thought out loud before noticing the glances from others and rolling his eyes at their curious faces.

**"Alright," Erza said before exclaiming "Let's GO!"**

**Back at the Fairy Tail Guild**

**"I tell you once, Lisanna. Don't try and hook me up with one of these morons!" A drunken Cana said while holding another bottle of alcohol and was leaning against the table where she sat alone. As the matter of fact, the only ones left in the guild hall were Lisanna, Cana, and Mira who stood behind the counter as everyone else was either home or on a quest, the eldest Strauss sister listened to their conversation.**

Several fairy tail members seemed offended and others simply giggled.

**Lisanna was cleaning up the table where Cana was sitting at "I'm just saying Cana, you and Gray look like you belong to each other-"**

Gray paled and Juvia glared at the girl causing her to lift her arms up in an attempt to calm the rain-woman.

**"Ah hell no! I mean, I like Gray as a friend but I don't want to see that perv as my boyfriend, give me someone like Naruto…." She smiled while drinking her bottle, a blush appeared on her cheeks as she was predictably drunk, but it was of something else…**

Juvia nodded and turned away while Gray seemed a little stung by the comments made by Cana. Mira turned a teasing look onto the card wizard causing her to groan at the inevitable teasing she would get. Meanwhile several Fairytail members were groaning about pretty boys like Naruto taking all the attention and Kiba and a few of Naruto's friends were a little stunned by the attraction that a few of the Fairy Tail girls had toward him.

Kakashi honestly didn't know why, he wasn't interested in his student in a romantic way but he acknowledged that Naruto was among the most attractive shinobi of his generation. One didn't spawn from the likes of Minato and Kushina without being stunning themself. That being said he had also seen women pulled in by the boy from Wave country to Spring Country and practically everywhere in between. If the boy wasn't as dense as a wall of bricks then he would probably have a couple kids of his own running around.

**This sparked the interest of both Strauss sisters but Lisanna was the quickest to ask "Oh? Has our card player a crush on our Naruto?"**

"Oh just like your big sis I'm so proud!" Mira teased her sister getting a giggle from the younger girl in return.

**Cana took the bottle off her mouth and sighed out of satisfaction "And what if I have? Am I in your way?" The brunette made a smirk while pointing at the youngest Strauss sister "You are having an eye on him too, haven't you?"**

"Hehe" Jiraiya chuckled. Oh he always knew that Naruto was his ticket to writing a masterpiece. From what he was hearing he might be able to get enough material to write his magnum opus.

Tsunade eyed the pervert suspiciously but didn't punish him yet. He was sure to know that if he used her adoptive little brother in his filth both she and Shizune would be having words, Sakura too if the look she was shooting a giggling Kakashi meant anything.

**Lisanna was taken aback by this "W-what?"**

**"You heard me. I saw you looking at him like he was a piece of meat. I wonder what Natsu would think of you having a crush on his older brother figure…."**

**"Oh please, Natsu and I are just friends and you know it," Lisanna said turning around and bringing the plate filled with empty jugs to the counter.**

**"Oh, and I know after Naruto saved you, your eyes haven't been able to turn away from him," Cana said with a smile.**

"Oh, well and here I thought you were following in my footsteps but it seems you can give it but not take it Lisanna." Mira sighed in a faux depressed tone getting several laughs at the blushing Lisanna's face.

**This made Lisanna put down the plate hard and almost knocking over the jugs as she turned around and made a glare…..before she pouted.**

**Mirajane couldn't help but chuckle at this exchange and this caused the other two to turn to her.**

**"And you," Cana pointed now at the eldest Strauss girl "Don't laugh because are just as bad as us."**

**"Me?" Mira held her hand in front of her chest. **

"Yes." Jiraiya said quietly his eyes focused on the illusion showing them along with the book reading. His fingers kept twitching wishing to write so terribly bad. He wasn't stupid though. He would simply save this all to his memory and write it down once they had a break. He was sure Kakashi would remember anything he missed. A promise of a limited edition signed copy and no doubt his grand-student would be a huge help.

**"Yeah, ever since you met Naruto, you guys were mean to him like some bully," Cana started memorizing "and then after that Naruto saved all of you guys, you changed and became nicer to everyone, especially Naruto."**

Lisanna and Mira frowned at the thought of them bullying him. Sadly Mira couldn't help but feel that it was probably true with how she used to act. Then again Lisanna never acted like that. So that was odd.

**"That doesn't mean anything."**

**"Oh, and when you showed Naruto those pictures of that modeling gig of yours? Just admit it, Mira, Naruto trusts you and you trust Naruto to almost a couple degree."**

"Blond Bastard, what the hell." Kiba said in mounting jealousy. Naruto was no doubt his friend but this felt like him rubbing it in his face. He could just imagine a cackling Naruto watching him. He felt the same after the chunin exams.

**"That is simply not true." **

"The lady doth protest too much, methinks." Cana laughed out as a faint dusting of pink settled on Mira's face as she became the target for teasing. She could take it but it was odd for her to be the target of such things.

**POOF! A small puff of smoke appeared on the counter, making the girls wave it off and saw it was a small red toad.**

**It waved around a paper and handed it over to Mirajane who said **

**"Uhm…Thank you."**

**POOF! The toad disappeared, leaving the three girls surprised at what just happened.**

**"I say, it keeps surprising me the magic Naruto uses," Cana said under the belief all of this was magic because Naruto said so, only if they knew….**

"Yeah, 'magic'." Cana huffed, annoyed for being lied to on her other's behalf. She understood Naruto's reasoning but the matter remained annoying.

**Mirajane opened up the message and began to read it.**

_**Mira, this is Naruto.**_

_**I need you to contact Master Makarov.**_

_**Eisenwald's Death God, Erigor is on the move with remnants of the guild, planning something. **_

_**Be quick.**_

**"But I just sent a message to Master Makarov just an hour ago," Mirajane complained and then sighed "Ah well if it is that important. What the heck."**

**With Naruto and the others**

**Naruto was still on the roof of the vehicle as some dried up blood on the side of his head was being noticed by Gray.**

**"Hey Naruto, you're bleeding." **

"Took us long enough." Gray commented.

**Lucy and Happy's heads popped out of the window after hearing it.**

**Erza was listening in on this.**

**"It's nothing, just a bruise I got from that Eisenwald guy." Naruto waved it off. He half-lied since he didn't want the others to know he had a fight in the bathroom…**

"As usual." Sakura groaned. Caring for Naruto's injuries was like herding cats. Except worse if he felt extra determined that day.

**"Are you sure?" Gray asked while looking closely "It looks-"**

**"Believe me, Gray, if it's bad I would warn you guys. now just focus on the upcoming battle, okay?"**

"So stubborn." Makarov chuckled. He really did remind him of his own kids in Fairy Tail.

**"Right," Gray replied with a grin, it's been a while since he had a serious fight.**

**Erza smirked knowing that Naruto was right, there were more pressing matters. The others just sat down back into their seats.**

**Naruto was now being focused on the task he was given; taking out Erigor.**

**Erigor slashed his scythe into the seat where Kageyama was sitting after hearing what happened on the train. **

"Threatening his own subordinates. Asshole." Asuma said getting agreements from the other readers and an annoyed eye roll from one especially broody Uchiha.

**Kageyama barely got off the seat and looked at Erigor stunned.**

**"Let me get this straight, you allow a Fairy Tail fly to see the Lullaby flute and let him get away, and that Fairy Tail wizard had to be Naruto Uzumaki, Is that true?"**

**"Yeah but-"**

**"And not only that, you said that he's out for me. Is that correct?" Erigor asked clearly pissed at his subordinate's failure.**

**"…..Yes."**

"Well to be fair Naruto is a tough opponent. Right Sasuke? I mean he had to throw your fight to keep from hurting you." Kakashi said. So what if he wanted the kid back in Konoha. He violated his number one rule, he deserved some snide remarks in the very least.

Not that he was going to actually get anything from the boy it seemed.

**Erigor slammed his scythe between the wooden planks that laid between Kageyama's legs "We cannot afford to take any chances, especially not with Uzumaki on our tail. Fortunately, we have a strategy."**

**Kageyama smirked, "You mean about that next station?"**

"I don't like the sound of that." Choji said as the readers narrowed their eyes.

"You shouldn't." Lucy agreed. She and her team knew what the man was planning, as he had done it in their world.

**Erigor nodded "Yes," he turns to the others "It's possible that Uzumaki has some fellow of his flies with him, so take care of them in any given chance. Alright?"**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**"And for Uzumaki…" Erigor made an evil smile "I'll handle him, I always wanted to fight that kid…."**

"Pfft, good luck with that wind boy, Wind is Naruto's natural affinity and he is far more powerful than a shinigami cosplayer." Jiraiya stated with humor getting chuckles from everyone else.

**"Uhm, sir?"**

**"This could be interesting," Erigor smirked. All the while everyone was focused on him, they didn't notice something on the flute.**

**Like the fact, it was glowing a purple light in its eyes, all three of them.**

"Damn Creepy Flute." All the members on the Fairy Tail team involved with the mission muttered.

"So who is reading next?" Erza asked.

"Jiraiya, you read." Tsunade commanded.

"Well I would but I-" Jiraiya began only to be impacted in the face with the book.

"I didn't ask you. I told you." She said with an annoyed expression.


End file.
